Passion In James County XI: Abby
Chapter twenty-seven
"Don't you think it's about time you start dating again?" The question was posed to Abby by Leila Wilkes, a therapist Abby had been seeing for most of the nine months that had passed since the day Ellen Coughlin almost killed her. Leila was slim, rather severe-looking, but very easy to talk to. Abby felt she'd gotten a lot from her sessions with the woman.
Since that awful day, Abby had settled in at the cabin at the lake and, with Greg's assistance, she had found a nursing job in the emergency department of Victorville Community Hospital.
She'd also filed for divorce and found that her husband was more than willing to dissolve their marriage with no more cost to him than the cabin at the lake. In fact, thanks to the fact that Lee had done surgery on the judge handling the case and the wife of the court clerk, the divorce had already gone through the courts and would be final in another two days.
"I suppose, maybe, I should," Abby said. "It's just..."
"It's just what?" Leila asked. "Abby, you're a very attractive woman, you can't tell me nobody's asked you out in the last nine months."
"A couple of the EMT's and cops who come in to the E.R. have asked," she said, "And one of the doctors has been asking me out, too, but..."
"What about Greg, that neighbor of you're always talking about?" Leila asked. "Judging from the way you talk, you spend a lot of time with him. Hasn't he ever asked you out?"
Abby shrugged. "I...I don't know," she replied. "I mean, Greg and I are friends. I think he may be the best friend I've ever had. I...I know we spend a lot of time together, but it's never, you know, gone beyond friendship."
"Do you want it to?" Leila asked.
Abby looked at her therapist, a bit surprised by the woman's question. "What...what do you mean, do I want it to?" she asked.
"I thought it was a pretty simple question," Leila said, "Would you like it if your relationship with Greg went beyond friendship?"
"I...I haven't really thought much about it," Abby said.
"You haven't?" Leila asked. She smiled. "Abby, if you want me to think believe that, I'm not sure whether you're trying to con me or yourself."
Abby sat there, pondering Leila's observation. In fact, she did spend a lot of time thinking about Greg and a lot of time in his company. They had coffee and breakfast every morning, either at her place or his. And, unless Greg happened to be working, they had dinner together every night. Greg seemed to find a lot of reasons to be at the hospital when she was working, too. In addition, they'd also been doing a lot of other things together. She had been helping Greg get his firewood split and stacked, and he kept her yard mowed and did a lot to help her salvage what they could from the charred ruins of her garage.
"You looked pretty thoughtful, there, Abby," Leila said. "What were you thinking about?"
Abby felt her face get hot. "I...I was thinking about my relationship with Greg, actually," she admitted.
"And...?" Leila asked.
"It's...it's kind of odd," Abby said, "I mean, I see more of Greg every day than I used to see of my husband the last two or three years I was married to him. We have breakfast and dinner together almost every day, and when we're not working, we spend a lot of time doing things around our houses."
"From what you've told me about him, this Greg sounds like a nice guy," Leila said.
