Love Therapy (Stanton Falls #2)

by Kaci Hart

He turned and walked out of her office, smiling and waving before pulling her door closed again.

  As she sat there, Donna realized that working there was definitely going to be challenging and enjoyable. Maybe she would learn something herself too.

  ***

  Nick lounged in the living room with his father watching TV. He didn’t even remember how he ended up there that day, but he felt the urge to talk, something he didn’t always openly do with his father.

  “Dad, can I ask you a question?”

  Nick’s father paused the television and looked at his son.

  “It’s about time.”

  “You already knew I had a question?”

  “Of course I knew son. I might not be the brightest of the bunch but I do have common sense. Look at the TV son.”

  Nick turned towards the television and then looked back towards his father in confusion.

  “Son, it’s baseball. You hate baseball and all of a sudden out of the blue you are watching the college series of baseball with me? Multiple hours of the one sport that you actually can’t stand. No my boy, you obviously need to talk about something. What’s on your mind? Women? Money issues?”

  Nick hesitated for a brief moment before coming out with his question.

  “Dad, do you think I am shallow?”

  “Shallow? I wouldn’t say that. Maybe a few years back but not now. Definitely no. What on God’s green earth makes you ask that.”

  Nick got up and went towards the kitchen to grab a cola from the fridge, grabbing one for his father as well.

  “At the job, I instructed HR to hire an on staff counselor as part of my expanded business benefits, pretty much like you have at the factory. So I stop by her office last Tuesday to buy her lunch as a welcome to the company and she sort of … gave me some advice about myself. She basically said that I use money to keep people around me.”

  “Come on son you know that isn’t true.”

  “That’s what I thought at first. She even singled out Aaron working for me as an example of how I use money to keep friends. I thought it was completely ludicrous until I thought more about it and I’ve found myself thinking that maybe she is right dad.”

  His father waived off the drink he was being offered.

  “Your mother only lets me have one of those a day now so I’m saving it for later.”

  “Wow dad, you’re truly whipped aren’t you?”

  “I may be but sometimes giving in on those really unimportant things is what makes a marriage work. Now back to you son. Sit down. You are a good young man. Listen, you could have slacked off after school but you didn’t. You know we’ve got enough money where you didn’t have to do a thing for the rest of your life and you’d still have money from us to give your kids. But you didn’t sit on that. You decided to start your own business. And why did you do that?”

  “I wanted to have something of my own. Something that I did myself.”

  “That may be the reason you tell everyone, but those of us that know you know the real reason you did that was because of your friend. He was in a bad place and you started that business and gave him a key role to help him get through that time. You didn’t do that for you. You did that for him. Your friend.”

  Nick was taken aback that anyone else would have figured that out.

  “Nicholas, you don’t use your money to make or keep friends. If anything, you of all the rich kids I knew, never used money in that way. Yes, you did grow up with money but that isn’t your fault and it isn’t a bad thing either. You have no qualms spending money on people, that is true but it doesn’t make you shallow. Money is something that you have and you aren’t stingy with it. It’s just a way you show appreciation and there is nothing wrong with that. Having said that, only you and God know if you really do have an ulterior motive when you do these things but if you know yourself as well as I do, then you know you don’t.”

  “Maybe you’re right. You sure know how to break things down in a different light.”

  “Well, I was an attorney before I started my business son. Kind of comes with the territory. Now you don’t go letting some PHD, MD, BA or any other combination of letters bend your truth.”

  “Thanks dad. I guess it was worth it to suffer through a few hours of the world’s most boring sport to get your advice.”

  His father laughed at him, before hitting the play button again.

  “Wisdom has a cost my boy. You know what Nick. I’m going to go ahead and have that cola now. I earned it just now.”

  Nick got the drink, handed it to his father and sat back down as his father was into the game again. What he had said made sense to him and he was glad for the advice. Yet he was still bothered by what Donna had said. That she had seen him in that way. The truth of the matter was that he really shouldn’t even care what she thought of him. She was just a counselor on staff, not someone he needed to impress in any way.

  She doesn’t know me from Adam and she made that judgement about me in less than a minute. She doesn’t know the first thing about me.

  He knew all of that and he was still carried away that she saw him in that light. He realized that he only cared because he liked her. Most people saying that to him would have made him laugh. There was only be a few people in the world that bothered him like that at all and she was one of them it seemed. He never realized that he liked her that much. He’d always had a thing for her for as long as he had known her and he wanted her to see the best in him. Her words told him a truth that she just saw him as some rich guy with money to buy people. She really didn’t understand him at all and as it turned out, her opinion of him was something that mattered to him. He just hadn’t known how much until just then. He looked at the time on his cell phone.

  Seven p.m.

  It was Friday evening and he figured that he couldn’t lose anything in trying.

  “Dad, excuse me for a minute. I need to make a call.”

  “Yeah son, sure.”

  His father dismissed him, already deep into his game again.

  When he had gotten outside and clear of his father’s excited rooting, he reached for his back pocket and the business card that he had placed in his wallet that had Donna’s contact information on it. He had a call to make.

  Chapter 6

  Donna was glad it was Friday and the week was over. She hadn’t realized how much more demanding work was going to be to have the same number of regular clients she normally had and helping them in three days a week rather than a whole week. She thought about her only appointment she had with her new job and it made it worthwhile.

  That Tuesday someone had set up a last minute appointment and had sat with her during their lunch break. She talked to them about a personal family issue and saw the relief that the person had.

  She knew that counseling could be as expensive as any other medical procedure if not more but she didn’t realize until the woman emailed her a few times just to make sure that she did not have a co pay that she would be responsible for. It turned out the woman had been hoping to see someone regarding her issue but couldn’t afford to pay for it. That was when Donna was really most satisfied with doing. She knew that as word got around about the service, which would be free to employees, more people would take advantage of the service.

  Donna pulled her car up to the parking lot of the grocery store and walked inside. She had gotten all the way home from work and had walked into the kitchen when she noticed that her cabinets and fridge were almost bare of food. It was definitely a chore for her, and if she had even a cup of milk and cereal, she would have eaten that for dinner and held the shopping off for one night, but she didn’t so she found her way back out of the house and to the store. Donna never really liked grocery shopping. That was one thing she liked about having a roommate when she was in Dallas. She hadn’t been to a grocery store to shop before school because she was staying with her mother and when she got to Dallas, her roommate loved cooking so it was logical that she pretty much did
all the shopping.

  I wonder if she would ever consider moving from Dallas to Stanton Falls.

  Donna joked with herself. She knew there was no way that someone born and raised in a big city would find her home anything but boring. Donna grabbed an avocado, gently squeezing as if she knew what she was feeling for. She figured somewhere between a rock and pudding had to be the right firmness. Maybe she would do some research online about picking out perishables. She put the avocado back, as well as her tomatoes and other things and made her way to the frozen foods section when her phone started to ring in her purse with a ringtone from a kid’s show she loved years ago. She scrambled to get it out of her bag before the whole frozen vegetables section began laughing at her.

  Pulling the phone from her bag, she didn’t recognize the number. It was local but there were really only a few people that had her number in town and she didn’t recognize that number specifically as one of them. A moment later she remembered that she had put her cell phone number on all her emails at the new job as well as on her business cards. It was most likely that someone was calling her from there. She’d been warned that if she didn’t want to get a bunch of calls at odd hours, she shouldn’t put her personal cell number on her cards. She understood why then. First chance she had, she was going to need to get a new personal phone and just use the old one for work. Either way, she was going to take the call in the middle of the supermarket and she guessed she should answer professionally.

  “Donna Sherman.”

  “Hello Donna. This is Nick.”

  “Nick? My boss Nick? Is there an emergency?”

  She had no idea why he’d be calling her on a Friday evening unless there was an issue at work. There was a hint of concern in her voice.

  “Emergency? No. Nothing like that. I figured you would be off work by now and I…”

  She heard his hesitation and it started to worry her. She hoped it wasn’t going where she thought it was. With her luck, it most definitely was. She sighed inwardly.

  “Hi Donna, I know that this is really forward of me to take your number off of your business card and call you when it’s not for counseling services but I didn’t really know of any other way to get in touch with you.”

  “That’s fine. What did you need?”

  “I know it’s presumptuous of me and we kind of had a strange encounter the other day in the office, but I was wondering or at least hoping that you might… like to … let me take you to dinner sometime? This time not as a thank you for working for me, but more as associated with movie or a walk in the park. I mean if you aren’t too busy or anything.”

  She was right. He was asking her out on a date. When she thought about it, she couldn’t even remember the last time that she had gone on a date. Months or maybe even over a year. She really didn’t have time for relationships and the problems that went with them to cloud her life over the past couple of years, and right then definitely wasn’t the right time. Things were moving in a good direction for her and she saw no reason to muddy it up with something as trivial as a boyfriend.

  “Oh Nick. I appreciate the gesture, I really do but…I’m not really in a mindset to date right now. I mean, I just moved back to town and am getting myself together. I don’t really have the time for it.”

  “Yeah, I understand that, but you gotta eat sometime don’t you?”

  Donna looked at the frozen chicken pot pies and one dollar meals and was momentarily tempted.

  “Yes I do have to eat. Nick I’m going to be honest with you because you are honestly a really nice guy from what I have seen. But let’s be realistic. We work together. I mean you are my boss in a sense. How would it look with you taking an employee out to dinner?”

  “Not true. You work for Dr. Faulkner’s practice. We employ him and he employs you.”

  “You really are trying aren’t you?”

  “I always do, especially when I find something I find worth putting the effort into.”

  “C’mon Nick. Are you going to make me be mean to you twice in one week? I’ll be straight with you and take it from someone who knows, I’m just not the right girl for you and even if I were, right now isn’t the right time.”

  There was silence on the phone, almost like he was giving her a moment to reconsider. After about three seconds she was almost tempted to do so when he spoke up again.

  “Alright. I’ll respect your wishes but I hope that if the time ever becomes right, maybe you will give me a call. I really would like to take you to dinner one day. I think I would have a great time and you might even enjoy yourself too. Sorry to bother you on your Friday night though. I’ll see you in the office on Monday?”

  “Bright and early.”

  “Ok Donna…”

  “Sorry again, gotta go Nick, bye.”

  Donna hung up the phone quickly. She didn’t want to give him a chance to keep going on as it seemed like he was still hoping she would change her mind. She wondered if she was just being a little bit hasty. When she thought about it objectively, Nick was a nice guy. He was the nicest kind of guy that she knew. But she’d seen enough in her practice and in her life to know that they always start out sweet but in the end, men are all the same. She mumbled under her breath as she grabbed the night’s frozen chicken dinner.

  “Looks like it’s going to be me and you tonight again. How about we follow up your gourmet flavorings with an ice cream sandwich for dessert… or better yet, one of those ice cream cones with the ice cream dipped in chocolates and nuts. I don’t know what they are called, but I’m gonna find them! Mark my words chicken dinner, mark my words.”

  When the lady next to her looked at her rather strangely through the glass, she realized she might have gone a little far playing with her food.

  Oh well. You are probably going home to your husband while I’m going home to the Golden Girls so I will talk to my food as I please.

  Satisfied with her selections, she walked towards the register to pay for her groceries and made her way home to a Friday night packed with fun and excitement.

  ***

  “Ok Donna… D-Donna?”

  She had already hung up the phone on him.

  Now that was really rude.

  He didn’t know if he pushed some kind of button or if she just didn’t want to deal with him anymore but she hung up on him quicker than he thought possible. Not only did she shoot him down on his requested date, but she had run off the phone with him like he was the plague. He scratched his head. That was a new thing for him.

  He was not a playboy by any means, but he had not found it difficult to get a date. In all honesty, he couldn’t remember a time when he had ever even been told no on a request for a date, not counting the time he asked Emily out just to mess with Aaron, but he already knew her answer was going to be no.

  Nick walked back into the house with his father and sat down.

  “Everything good son?”

  “Yeah… yeah dad, everything is fine.”

  “Good. In that case, these games are pretty much done. I’m about to take myself a nap before your mother gets home from her women’s meeting at church. God knows I love that woman but I need to rest in order to keep up with her after one of them meetings. A million things she’s learned that I just have to know.”

  Nick laughed.

  His father complained about the things she rambled about, but Nick knew that he actually looked forward to those conversations with her. Nick figured it had something to do with being married for so long. It was part of the routine that defined them. They had been married for over thirty years now and it was like they were moving in the opposite direction as most relationships in America. Where most people seemed to drift apart the longer they were married, they seemed to draw closer to one another. It seemed like any time that they had the chance to be together, his father and mother wanted to. Like the love they knew today only opened the door for greater love tomorrow.

  Sure, he knew that they worked on it all the tim
e but that was what made their love seem so attractive to him. That was the kind of relationship that he wanted for himself but he hadn’t found the right person to share that with. Most of the women he knew just didn’t catch his attention like that. That was why he had stayed single for so long. He wasn’t the type that had to have someone in his life just for the sake of being with someone. He didn’t know if it was because they lived in such a small town or what but he was starting to feel like that wasn’t going to be a part of his life. Donna was the exception to that.

  Ever since he’d known her, there was something there. Just a spark, but enough to catch his interest. It was looking more and more each day like that was more his imagination than anything real.

  “You go ahead dad. I’ll pick up out here and then I’m going to head on home and relax. Maybe watch an action movie or something more enjoyable than this boredom. I’ll probably be gone before mom gets home so tell her that I’m sorry I missed her and that I love her.”