Read Online High Anxiety by Charlotte Hughes - Free Book Online Page B

nicest outfit, and her platinum hair was teased and lacquered with hair spray, as usual. “What about the studio?” I asked.
    “Trixie and I worked it out,” she said.
    “Thank you for coming to my rescue, Mom,” I said, trying to appear grateful, even though I feared her presence would only create more stress for me. I wondered if Mona had called her as a way to get even with me for causing her hives.
    “What did you expect me to do?” she said. “We’re family, and families stick together. But I have to tell you, Kate, I was hurt that you didn’t personally call me. If you can’t count on your own mother, who can you count on?”
    Let the guilt-trip begin, I thought.
    She set her purse on the desk and glanced about. She thumbed through the magazines on my coffee table and peeked inside the supply room.
    “I can see that I have my work cut out for me,” she said.
    I gripped the handle on my coffee cup. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, that supply room definitely needs organizing,” she said. “And do you realize that some of the magazines on that coffee table are almost a year old? They really need to be tossed. And that poor plant is dying,” she added, pointing to my bamboo plant near the window.
    The thought of her changing and rearranging everything in my office struck fear in my heart. “You don’t need to do all that, Mom. If you could just answer the phone and try to make my patients feel at ease when they arrive, that’d be great. Some of them are pretty anxious when they come in.”
    “Of course!” she said. “I’ll make them feel right at home. Oh, this is going to be so much fun,” she added. “I’ll finally be able to see what you do all day. I just wish I could sit in on a couple of your sessions so I could watch you in action, but I’m sure that’s a big no-no.”
    “You’re right,” I said. I noticed a stack of envelopes sticking out of her purse. “What’s all that?”
    “RSVPs for Bump and Lou’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary party on Sunday night at the VFW. I hope you didn’t forget.”
    How could I forget, I wanted to tell her. I’d been dreading it for weeks. I had met Aunt Lou’s family, all hog farmers, at a reunion five years ago and had learned more than I’d wanted to know about the process of mating, castration, and dressing of hogs. I hadn’t been able to look at a pork chop for months.
    “How many people are you expecting to attend?” I asked.
    “About forty,” she said.
    “That’s a lot of people,” I said. “Where are they staying?”
    “At the Comfort Inn. We were able to get everybody a big discount. Oh, and there’s no need to dress up for the party. It’s casual.”
    Which meant there was going to be a lot of polyester at the VFW on Sunday night.
    Just then, the door opened, and a man in his fifties walked in. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt. “I’m Robert Nells,” he said. “I have a nine o’clock appointment.”
    It was his first visit. “I’m Kate Holly.” We shook hands. “Please call me Kate.”
    “I’m Robert.”
    “Would you like a cup of coffee?” I asked.
    “That would be great. I take it black.”
    It didn’t take long for him to complete the necessary paperwork I required all my new patients to fill out. I invited him into my office and closed the door. I scanned the form quickly and discovered that he had lost his job with a major corporation six months prior. His body language—slumped shoulders, hangdog look—said it all.
    “I had no idea it was coming,” he said, not wasting any time getting to the heart of the matter. “I was the executive vice president for twelve years.”
    “Were you given an explanation as to why they were letting you go?” I asked.
    “Profits were down. The company was cutting back. At least that’s what I was told. I later learned they hired a guy to replace me. He’s probably twenty years younger than me and costs them a lot less. I received a nice severance, but I feel