“Still getting over that vacation fling? Oh, please,” Ocky said, in response to Marissa’s raised eyebrows. “I have eyes. You were walking ten feet off the ground when you got back. And then one day you weren’t.”

“Okay, fine. But I don’t see how this is really your business.” Whatever you do, don’t tell her that the other woman showed up on your doorstep this morning.

Ocky blinked. “I thought we were friends enough that we shared stuff. You didn’t share.”

“I felt I’d been a fool. And as for sharing, well, you had all the girlfriends. I had my mother.”

“But your mom’s a lot better, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice job of sidetracking me.” Ocky frowned, but she was clearly not that upset. “You’re a client now. If you don’t find someone we might have to say as much if asked.”

“I know we both agreed that would be bad but I’m not so sure it would be. And who knows, I could be in the three out of four.” A thought occurred to her. “Is that what’s really bothering you?”

“Yeah,” Ocky said with a lopsided grin. “If you get the happy love thing I am going to be the most pathetic person I know.”

Marissa wasn’t sure she was smiling as she laughed. “So until now I’ve been the most pathetic person you know?”

“I didn’t mean it that way. You know that.”

You didn’t mean it, Marissa thought after Ocky went back to her office but it doesn’t mean it’s not how you felt. Well, that was a sure-all cure for a crush, finding out she was the person Ocky kept around so she could feel better about herself. That cleared up a lot of things just dandy.

Normally, she’d let Ocky know she was taking a longer lunch break but Ocky was not her boss and she was going to stop acting as if she was. She was in an agitated frame of mind when she got to Helena Boxer’s office for her once-a-month check-in, but the moment she walked into the quiet space with pale blue walls and the faint smell of sandalwood she felt better. This little office was full of good feelings and positive energy.

“The running hurts my knees, even though it feels good at the same time,” she told Helena after they reviewed her current progress. “I’ll be glad actually not to do it when the time comes. I’d rather walk with more weights. I still haven’t tried skating—that might be next.”

“It’s low impact, that’s true.” Helena glanced up from the printouts Marissa had brought. “Until you fall down, that is. Please get all the safety gear, okay?”

“I’ll start at the rink with full body padding, promise. So anyway, you can see it. Adding a minute of running after every two minutes of walking worked well. I lost some more fat but now I’m at another plateau. I don’t want to waste two months doing something that’s not helping.”