“I’ll invite him over when it’s a decent hour for making phone calls,” her mother said. “You want another cup?”

“Sure, why not?” She gave her mug to her mother. Something was up.

As soon as their coffees were finished, Lauren knew she needed to clear the air, kick the elephant out of the room. “Mom, tell me about Dad. What’s really going on with him?” She lowered her voice. Her father’s hearing was not impaired in any way.

“It’s almost a miracle, isn’t it?”

“Almost,” Lauren said.

“He started this new medication two weeks ago. We didn’t want to tell you until your father experienced results, if at all. As you’ve seen, the past few days he’s been more energetic than he has in years. When we were at the doctor’s office yesterday, Dr. Keller was amazed at his improvement. But there are side effects. We knew that going in but figured the odds were good that he’d be fine, and he is, so don’t think I’m about to deliver bad news. I’m not. However, with the improvement there was a risk of mood changes. Some are minor; some people experience severe depression, anxiety, and four people that they know of—all of this is from Dr. Keller—had to be taken off the medication because they became suicidal. That is the worst side effect. So when your dad stepped out of the room for his blood work, I explained how moody he’d been. Dr. Keller wanted to take him off the drug, but your dad, being the stubborn old fool that he is, said absolutely not.”

“I don’t get it,” Lauren said.

“Today he started taking an antidepressant. He’s angry. He feels like he’s traded his mental health for his physical health. It will take a few weeks, but the doctor assured us that when the antidepressant kicks in, he’ll be as good as new.”

“That explains a lot. I just wish you had told me. I was wondering if he was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s or plain old senility. Brent noticed it, too.”

“Oh, dear, your father would be horrified if he knew that. I’ll tell Brent myself. He deserves to know. He’s practically family as it is.”

“He’s a good guy, no doubt about that,” Lauren said, and meant it.

“And handsome, too,” her mother added. “Surely, you must have some kind of feelings for him? In my day, the girls would have given their high-priced heels to have a man that good-looking say hello. Are you, uh, my old-fashioned ways won’t allow me to say certain things, but you do like men, right?”