Chapter 2
“It’s so good to see you, Karen.” Rosie relaxed into Karen’s warm embrace; she always gave the best hugs. Luckily, she’d passed that ability onto Lori.
Karen held her at arm’s length. “You’ve lost some weight since I saw you last. What’s going on?”
Rosie wrinkled her nose. “Lots of long days at work, and no time to eat, I guess.” She settled onto the seat opposite Lori, who rolled her eyes and mouthed an apology.
Karen swatted Lori’s shoulder before budging her along the bench. “I’m allowed to be worried about your best friend. She looks like she’s wasting away to nothing.”
“Lucky that she’s joining us for lunch then,” Lori said. “You can make sure she eats something healthy.”
“And find out if there’s more to it than time constraints.” Karen waved for the waiter’s attention, and they placed their order. “How’s your new job going?” she asked when the server had gone.
Rosie smiled. Karen had almost as good a memory as Lori, and warmth spread through her chest at Karen’s motherly concern, something she was entirely unfamiliar with. “It’s good. I’m busier than I ever was with my private practice, and it’s been a challenge getting used to having a boss again.”
“I can only imagine,” Karen said.
Lori chuckled. “That’s because you’ve always been your own boss.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Karen gently nudged Lori’s shoulder. “There’s no way I could work under anyone else after running my own business for so long.”
“I do miss my old workplace.” Rosie sighed, remembering her bright, spacious office on the edge of Millenium Park.
“I miss our lunches at the roof garden restaurant. That was one of my favorite views of Lake Michigan,” Lori said.
Rosie nodded, though they hadn’t lunched at that office since Lori withdrew into herself following her divorce from Katherine. “And I miss the autonomy. Having someone else tell me what to do is taking some getting used to. Especially when they’re fifteen years younger than me.”
Karen frowned. “How can that be? They wouldn’t be out of high school.”
“She might be exaggerating slightly, Mom. Isn’t your manager twenty-five?”
“Twenty-three,” Rosie said then waited to continue until the waiter had placed their drinks on the table and left.
“He’s a millionaire whizz-kid who made his money in Silicon Valley on the latest social networking app the world can’t do without.
Now he wants to revolutionize the world of advertising. ”
Karen raised her eyebrow. “You’re not convincing me that your career change has been all that successful.”
Rosie emptied two packets of sweetener into her latte and stirred it slowly, contemplating the question. “It’s only been six months. I think I just need more time to adjust.”
“When Lori told me about it, I have to admit I was baffled, and she didn’t really explain what prompted the move.” Karen tapped her biscotti on her saucer. “I’m always intrigued by the motivation behind job shifts.”
“Mom,” Lori said, “not everyone has a calling like you did. Lots of people have lots of jobs. Change can be good; it stops the rot.”
Rosie shrugged. “I thought being a therapist was my calling…until I didn’t.”
“Did something happen?” Karen asked.
“Are you sure you want to talk about this? I want to hear all about Hank’s veteran project, and your daughter is desperate to grill me about my weekend.”
Lori wiggled her eyebrows. “It’s only fair. You already know the nonsense I got up to, but my night finished a lot earlier than yours.”
Karen gave Lori a sideways glance. “I thought you didn’t like gossip.”
“That isn’t gossip; it’s BFF talk.”
Lori’s enthusiasm made Rosie smile. It felt like it had been way longer than a year since she’d seen her best friend smile like that. She cursed the ex-wife for the millionth time for hurting Lori so badly.
“You can save that until I leave. Hank will be finished talking to your team at the garage soon enough, and I promised we could go to see the Bean—again. I swear I don’t know why he’s so fascinated with that thing.”
“He says that it gives him new perspectives on whatever’s going on in his mind,” Lori said. “There’s probably some piece of his new project that doesn’t fit, and he wants to contemplate it in the park. You know that, Mom.”
Karen huffed. “How am I supposed to remember that? We haven’t been here together for four years.” She took a sip of her coffee and murmured appreciatively. “Remind me to buy some of this Bonnie’s Beans to take home.”
“Sure, Mom.”
“And yes, Rosie, I do want to talk about you. I only see you once a year, so you’ve got to fill me in on everything you’ve been up to, especially your new job,” Karen tapped Rosie’s hand gently, “if you don’t mind talking about it, that is.
I don’t want to push if you’re not comfortable, but I do remember you telling my daughter that it was healthy to talk things through. ”
“I did say that.” Rosie shrugged. “But I said a lot of things that people generally seemed to ignore, so you probably shouldn’t quote me.”
Karen put her arm around Lori’s shoulder and pulled her closer. “I disagree. Lori only started to heal once she began seeing your colleague. And now she’s back to her old self.”
Rosie chuckled. “I think that might be more down to a certain six-foot super-soldier than little old Rae.”
Lori kicked her under the table. “That’s not accurate. Rae helped me get to the place where I’m able to entertain the thought of a ‘six-foot super-soldier.’”
“You did more than entertain the thought of Gabe on Saturday,” Rosie said and shifted quickly to avoid another tap on the shins.
“Anyway,” Karen said, “you were saying…”
The waiter returned with their food, and Rosie swirled her latte around in its glass before setting it down, aware it was avoidance when there was no reason for it.
“It’s pretty simple, really. The same people were coming to me, session after session, and they weren’t changing.
They weren’t getting better. It made me question my worth as a therapist and then as a person.
” She shrugged. “I don’t need that; I had enough of it as a kid.
So I took action before it dragged me to depths I might not have been able to climb out from.
And if this doesn’t work for me, I’ll try something else.
I’m using my psychology degree too, so it’s not like my education has been a waste of time.
” Though convincing people they couldn’t live without certain products wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind when she fought her way through college. “And it’s paying those debts.”
Karen munched on some garlic bread and nodded. “Mm, that’s important, but it’s nice if you can do something you enjoy at the same time.”
Lori huffed. “Ninety-five percent of the population work to live, Mom, not the other way around like you and Dad.”
“I know that. It’s just that Rosie seemed to love her work like we do. And now,” Karen patted Rosie’s hand, “that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Maybe I’ll learn to love it,” she said, more in hope than belief, and twirled spaghetti on her fork.
“Why did you go into therapy, Rosie?” Karen tilted her head to one side.
“Mom! You wanted to catch up, not therapize her.”
Rosie smiled and waved Lori’s protestations away. “It’s okay, Lori. Honestly, it’s good to talk about it, and even nicer to have someone interested enough to ask questions that make me think.”
Lori glanced away briefly and sighed. “I haven’t asked those questions. I’ve been too involved with my own problems to see yours.”
Rosie shook her head and took Lori’s hand in hers. “Hey now, that’s not what I meant. Please don’t go guilt-tripping yourself.” She squeezed gently. “That’s my job.”
Lori smiled. “Still. I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
“You’re here now,” Rosie said. “And whether it’s Rae’s miraculous therapy or Gabe’s amazing abs that have brought you back to me, I don’t care. I’m just glad you’re starting to feel like yourself again.”
Karen side-shuffled out of the booth. “I need the restroom. You two should hug it out while I’m gone, and then Rosie can answer my probing question.” She walked away before either of them could respond.
“Your mom missed her vocation. She would’ve made a killer therapist.”
Lori got up and sat beside Rosie before pulling her into a warm embrace. “I’ve already said that I was sorry for disappearing on you and freezing you out when you tried to help, but I’m really sorry I’ve been such a poor friend.”
“Honestly, it’s fine.” Rosie closed her eyes and relaxed in Lori’s arms. She had missed her terribly, and she had needed Lori as her sounding board, and it wasn’t fine.
In Lori’s absence, Rosie had made a life-changing decision, and she had to deal with the consequences.
“Worst-case scenario, I could always come and help you at the Sanctuary, right?”
Lori chuckled and pulled away from the hug. “Yeah, right. I can see you donning some coveralls to muck out the stables. I’m not sure Prada has a workwear line.”
“Fine. I’m sure there’s plenty of admin work I could help with then.”
“Absolutely,” Lori said. “Or we could build you a special office to give therapy to the horses and hounds.”
Rosie arched her eyebrow. “Now you’re taking it too far.”
“What? Why?”
Lori’s attempt at a serious expression only made Rosie laugh. “You know why.”
“Animals are very complicated beings. They get depressed too.”
“I’m sure they do, but I don’t think they’d respond to Jung.”
“That’s what I like to see: my two favorite women smiling and laughing.” Karen slid back into the booth opposite Rosie and Lori. “Are you ready to tell me why you got into therapy?”
“I’ll give you the Cliff notes version after I’ve eaten this Bolognese. I can’t eat it cold.” Or rather, she wouldn’t. Too many frozen meals not properly warmed had fostered a serious antipathy for lukewarm food.