“Can I help you, hon?” she asks, probably wondering why I haven’t come in farther than the doorway.
I smile awkwardly. “Um… is Dr. Walker available?”
“He’s in with a patient right now. Do you have an appointment?” she asks me.
“No, I… um. I was just going to sit and wait for him, try to speak with him in between,” I tell her, finally moving and going toward one of the comfortable-looking chairs.
“Honey, are you feeling all right? Dr. Walker doesn’t see patients without an appointment, but we can call someone if you’re having unwanted thoughts,” she says, whispering the last part.
Jesus Christ. Do I look suicidal right now?
“Uuummm… I’m Neil’s roommate?” It comes out like a question, because one, I don’t know if that will be enough to get this lady off my back, and two, I don’t know if she’s even aware Neil lives with someone. That and I have no idea if he’s told anyone besides my sister and Seth that he’s in an unlabeled relationship, which is why I played it safe and said roommate.
Her face brightens instantly. “Astrid?”
My brows lift. Guess she knows he lives with someone, and she even knows my name? I wonder what else she—
“Nita, come here. It’s Astrid!”
“Astrid’s here? She really exists?” I hear another woman ask, and then her head pops into the rectangle of the open window, her eyes as big as the first woman’s.
Instead of sitting down in the chair as I planned, I cautiously approach the window, their smiles growing the closer I get. By the time I reach them, I’m glad there’s a half wall between us, because they’re reaching through, trying to… I don’t even know… pet me and check that I’m actually real? I stay just out of reach. Sweaty and gross. But I do feel the barest touch of Nita’s nails on my bicep, and I notice how long those suckers are. She has them filed into points, and they’re all super blingy and colorful, looking cool against her flawless black skin. I grit my teeth and hold my hand out to shake theirs. I’m still disgusting after just working out, but I don’t want to come off rude when these women are clearly excited to see me.
“She’s real!” Nita exclaims, and I can’t help the giggle that leaves me.
“You’ll have to excuse us. Doc talks about you all the time and we were wondering if he was schizophrenic and you were just a voice inside his head. Because, you know, what woman in her right mind could resist that man?”
“Hm.” I laugh softly. “It’s cute you think I am.” In my right mind, that is.
They ignore that. “Girl, he’s told us all about you. Always going on and on about how talented you are.” Talented? Nita must see the question in my expression. “With your makeup. I, myself, am a bit of an artist. I do my nails myself,” she says, holding her hand out the window again and wiggling her fingers.
“That’s really amazing. I can’t even paint my right hand. My left one is useless except for typing with,” I admit, and she laughs. “Speaking of typing, I’ve always wondered. How do you type with long nails like that?”
She just shrugs. “Practice.”
“Anyway,” the first woman says, and I see on her tag that her name is Theresa. “He’s in with a patient, but he’ll have a fifteen-minute break between the end of this one and the next one, hon. As long as he doesn’t run over. That man is too dedicated for his own good.” I smile and nod, knowing what she means. “No, really. Before you came along, what, about a year ago now? He never once took a lunch break. He never left before seven, in order to fit in clients who had to come after work—”
“And he just looked sad, girl. Like, not with his patients. He’s always got his doctor mask in place for his patients—”
“Mm. His shrinky face,” I insert, and the two women look at each other and then proceed to scream with laughter.
“She called it his shrinky face!” Nita hollers, and Theresa wipes tears from her eyes.
“Yes,” she says, still choked up from laughing. “Exactly. He has his shrinky face for his patients, but any other time… he just… never smiled. Always so serious. No life in his eyes.” She pauses, her voice having gotten melancholy. But then she perks up again. “Then about a year ago, he started bebopping in here like he done won the lottery or something.”
“Nah, girl,” Nita corrects. “Man’s already rich. He started looking like he was gettin’ laid.”
I let out an “Eep!” and put my hand over my mouth, my cheeks turning bright red.
“Ni-ta! Don’t go embarrassing the poor thing,” Theresa scolds her.
“Well, I’m just saying. He just started looking real happy all of a sudden, and it was soon after he started talking about you. So good job with your… summer cabbage.” She waves one of those long metallic nails in the general direction of my crotch.