Moments later, Dr. Watson emerged from his office looking pleased. Mr. Worthington followed, shifting his briefcase from his left hand to his right. He smiled at Anita, an open, white-toothed smile that automatically caused her to smile back. Instantly, she regretted doing so, because his smile widened, shifted, and suddenly there was something lascivious in it, something that made her realize he was thinking about her in a way that was decidedly not professional. She recalled a scene from Gone With the Wind, where Scarlett, reacting to a visual appraisal by Rhett Butler, says, “He looks as if he knows what I look like without my shimmy.” That was how Anita felt, and while she had to admit there was an attraction on her part, it was a forced attraction, not something she sought or wanted, but something that was pulled from her.

How?

She had no idea, but the same thing had occurred at the bank, and it frightened her. She watched Worthington exit through the waiting room. Before walking outside, he waved goodbye to her.

“What’s up?” Jen asked, seeing her face.

“Nothing.” Anita tried to shrug it off.

But Jen had known her long enough to be able to read her moods, and after more prodding, Anita admitted that the man from the bank made her uncomfortable, that she’d encountered him before at First People’s grand opening and there’d been kind of a weird incident.

Jen responded with a sympathetic nod.

Anita suddenly thought of something. “That’s not who you’re dealing with for your loan is it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I told you, we haven’t met with the bank yet. Evangeline’s still setting that up.”

Dr. Watson indicated to them that he was ready for a patient, and Anita called Zak Patel and led him back to the exam room.

Things got a little busy after that, and it wasn’t until almost noon that Anita finally had a chance to check her email. Where she found fifteen messages from The First People’s Bank, each titled: BANK WITH US!

She deleted the entire group without reading any of them.

After getting off work at five, Anita stopped by Safeway to pick up some groceries for dinner, but halfway to the register, her cart filled with milk, orange juice, pasta, spaghetti sauce, tortillas and cans of refried beans, she realized that she’d forgotten to get money from the bank. She had still not received a replacement Visa card, and with no way of paying for the groceries, she tried calling and then texting Kyle. He did not pick up his phone and, though she waited several minutes, did not reply to her text, so, feeling conspicuous and embarrassed, she put everything back and drove home. He could pick up something for dinner, she thought, and, sitting in the driveway, she texted him exactly that.