Two

*Bella*

"Isabella?"

I kept staring at my shoes, my name ringing in my ears as I studied the rounded toes of my sensible heels.

I needed to do this. I needed to look up, acknowledge the woman standing in front of the archway, stand up and follow her into the room that was meant to be comforting.

But it wouldn't be comforting. It didn't help at all when they just sat there… staring at me and waiting for me to initiate a conversation and pour my heart out to them.

I didn't initiate conversations. I hated having people analyze me. I hated when people stared at me. I hated listening to them tell me what they thought I should do.

They weren't in my head. They knew nothing about my heart and the condition it'd been twisted in to six years ago. They just wanted the money I'd be shelling out to them if I followed this lady into that room.

But I'd wanted this. I'd wanted help. I'd specifically asked Carlisle to give me a name of someone he trusted so that I could deal with this already.

I'd tried before. Right after it happened.

Nothing had worked then and I was scared that nothing would work now.

Even worse than that, everyone was hoping that something would. Carlisle's eyes had lit up when I asked him about it and Jake was practically fucking giddy about the whole damn thing. I was pretty sure that even Alice and Angela were hoping something would work for me. I didn't even want to get started on my mother and Emmett; those two, more than anyone else, needed me to do this.

I wasn't always the easiest person to work with, be friends with or be related to. I was more paranoid than anyone in the entire world was and it took a whole lot of fucking time for me to even trust anyone else.

I was a wreck.

I needed to do this.

"Isabella?" she asked again.

I kept my head down, still staring at the tips of my shoes and slowly wiping my sweating palms on my thighs.

I wanted to get up. I was screaming at my legs in my head, demanding that they make some sort of movement. I needed to do this; I owed it to everyone in my life to do this.

The woman sighed and disappeared back through the archway. Swallowing hard, I chanced a look up and quickly gathered my purse from the floor beside me. Clutching it to my chest, my legs finally decided to work and I stood up.

Instead of walking over to the receptionist, I took a sharp left and bolted out the door, greedily gulping in the fresh air as I walked down the sidewalk and back to my car.

It was too much. It wasn't enough. I couldn't do it.

I unzipped my purse to grab my cigarettes and lighter as I continued through the parking lot. I flicked open the pack and grabbed a cigarette with shaking hands, stuffing it between my lips and flicking my lighter. Touching the flame to the end of it, I inhaled and blew it out through my nose.

Relief.

Closing my eyes briefly, I put the pack and lighter back into my purse, grabbed my cell phone and quickly dialed in the familiar number that he hadn't changed since college. Snatching the cigarette from my lips and repeatedly flicking it, I put the phone up to my ear and leaned against my car as I reached it.

"Hey," Jake greeted, his voice weary.

"Couldn't do it," I grumbled, raising the cigarette to my lips and taking another drag from it.

"It's all right, Bells."

I heard the disappointment in his voice and felt my gut twist in anxiety. I hated disappointing people. I hated disappointing people I cared about, people that were on my side and hoping that I'd get better soon.

"You gotta work yourself up to it."

"Yeah," I grumbled, nodding as I sucked in another drag.

It was six years in the making; how much more did I really need to work up to?

"Don't beat yourself up over it."

I smirked, shaking my head as I flicked my cigarette and took another drag, staring down at the faded white lines on the pavement.

Don't beat myself up over it, but feel free to feel like the biggest failure in the world once again.

"It takes time."

Six years, Jake, six fucking years and nothing had changed.

"Yeah," I sighed, flicking my cigarette again. "Are you busy?"

"No. Come on over," he said, his voice overly bright and cheery.

I sucked off another drag, squeezing my eyes shut as I blew it out again.

"I'll stop and get something to eat. What do you want?"

"Whatever you feel like having."

"I'll be there soon."

"Hey, don't you need to go to work?"

"Eleven," I grumbled, taking another drag from the cigarette and slowly opening my eyes again. "New doctor boy is in today."

"Oh, right."

"I'll be there in a few."

"Bye, Bells."

"Bye," I grumbled, snapping my phone shut and curling my fingers around it.

I crossed my free arm over my chest and flicked my cigarette again, staring out at the trees across from me.

I should go back inside. I should go back in there, make up some half-assed excuse about why I hadn't gone in when I was supposed to, sit my ass in that faux-comfortable room they'd stick me in and talk about everything. Talk about him, talk about the way I'd felt hollow no matter who had been in my life in the past six years, talk about my daddy issues and all that other happy stuff so that they could nod and smile and tell me all about how I'd been holding on to all of it for entirely too long.

But I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to hear all the negative things they'd spout on about once the dam broke. I wasn't ready to feel that way again; not now. Maybe not ever.

I unwound my arm from my waist and set my purse on the hood of my car, throwing my cell phone in it and reaching up with my free hand, fisting it in my hair, pulling slightly.

Why couldn't I do this? What was I so damn afraid of that I couldn't get the help I both wanted and needed?

You're afraid of losing him, the tiny, nagging, annoying voice inside of my head stated simply.

I blew out a deep breath and quickly took another drag before throwing the cigarette away from me and dropping my hand from my hair.

I'd already lost him. He wasn't coming back. I had nothing left to lose.

Snatching my purse from the hood of the only thing my father had ever gotten for me, I grabbed my keys and unlocked the door.

Everyone always leaves. The only constants in my life had been my mother, my brother and ever since college, Jake, and I was more than happy to keep it that way.

~*~

I pulled into the parking lot of Black Smoke's Garage and grabbed the non-descript white bag with Jake's donuts in it. Pulling the keys out of the ignition and grabbing the iced coffee cup from the small holder near my feet, I shoved open my door and climbed out.

Jake was sitting in a white plastic lawn chair, a cigarette in between his lips, his long black hair flowing over one shoulder and his dark eyes trained on me. His A-shirt, barely visible underneath the heavy dark blue jacket he was wearing, was littered with grease stains and clinging to his muscular chest, his legs kicked out in front of him and his ankles crossed. He looked the picture of relaxation except for the line between his bushy eyebrows.

The line that I always put there. The line that clearly told me that I'd disappointed and failed to meet his expectations once again. The line that screamed pity, acceptance, and everything that I always feared when I looked into his eyes.

He'd been one of the three men in my life that I couldn't bare to disappoint and I hated to see that line telling me that I had.

I'd met him my freshman year at college when he'd been accidentally enrolled into one of my photography courses and had clearly been in over his head the minute the professor started talking about f-stops and shutter speeds. When he'd been called out on it, he'd immediately said something incredibly stupid – on purpose – and had the whole class rolling in laughter.

He was the class clown and I was the girl hiding in the middle of the room so that no one would notice me. It had been two years since everything had happened and I'd gotten very used to and had been very content with being by myself.

When the professor paired us up for the assignment we had due at the end of class, I was terrified. I didn't want to be paired up with anyone – least of all a guy that was clearly my total opposite.

At the end of class that day, we'd ending up going out for pizza because we hadn't been able to stop talking and had been inseparable since. He had been so easy to talk to and I'd felt so comfortable with him almost immediately. I couldn't remember the last time something like that had happened for me with a guy and I had fucking reveled in it. He'd quickly become my best friend – the only one I'd had in a very long time and up until about two months ago, everything had been fine.

He'd started dating a new girl, Jean, and the relationship we'd had between us was slowly starting to deteriorate. He didn't seem like the same person anymore and it had gotten to the point where I was scared to even call him just to talk to him like I used to. It always seemed like I was bothering him somehow.

Like now.

"Here," I managed, clearing my throat as I thrust the bag into his hands upon reaching him. "Boston cream."

"How much?" he asked, flicking the cigarette in the opposite direction and carefully taking the bag from my hands.

Great. Now he thought I was breakable. And he actually wanted to pay me. He never paid me and I never paid him; that was always the way we worked. It worked out in the end and neither of us had ever said anything differently.

Until now.

"Don't worry about it." I swallowed hard and crossed my free arm over my chest, looking down at his feet as I lifted the coffee straw to my lips. "I got it."

"Bells…"

"It was two fucking dollars, Jake. I think I can handle it," I grumbled.

"Have you eaten?"

"Not hungry."

"Bella, come on…"

"I can't, okay?" I said forcefully, my voice thick as I spared a glance at him from underneath my lashes. "Not right now."

I heard him heave a long-suffering sigh and felt my eyes water before I squeezed them together tightly and calmed my quivering chin by biting down on the straw to my coffee.

"And you can't keep doing this, either," he said quietly. "Either grow the balls needed to get the help you want or stop trying altogether."

"Yeah," I whispered, moving the straw from my mouth and nodding. "I uh… I have to go."

"Bella, come on," he nearly growled.

"You're right!" I exclaimed, holding my free hand up and swallowing hard, slowly opening my eyes to meet his. "I know you're right. I just need to go."

"Where? You said that you didn't need to be at work for another two hours," he grumbled, throwing the bag to the cement floor beneath him and lifting his hips to grab the pack of cigarettes out of his front pocket.

I watched as he lit it and swallowed hard again, wondering where my Jake had gone. The guy that would do anything to make me laugh or keep me from crying or when he couldn't, the guy who would just hold on to me and let me cry into his chest for a few hours when I needed to.

"I don't know," I said weakly, shrugging my shoulders. "Anywhere, I guess."

He glared at me as he sucked in a drag of his cigarette and I ground my teeth together, my heart beating frantically against my ribs and my fingers clutching my coffee cup tightly.

"Don't pull this shit with me."

I nodded, licking my bottom lip and staring down at the ground, willing the tears to go away.

"I'll call you later, okay?" I managed, reaching up and digging the heel of my hand into my eyes as I walked back towards my car.

"Whatever, Bella," I heard him grumble right before I heard the chair scrape against the floor when he stood up.

I climbed back into my car and hastily dropped my coffee cup back into the holder at my feet, my hands shaking as I jammed the keys in the ignition and started to back out of the parking lot. I heard a car horn blaring and brakes squealing before I slammed my foot on my own and swallowed hard, quickly shoving the car back into drive and pulling back into my space.

I kept my foot on the brake as I leaned forward, curling my arms over the steering wheel and resting my forehead on the center of it.

"What the hell are you doing?" I heard Jake scream as he approached the driver's side of the car.

I flinched, immediately dropping my hand back onto the gearshift and placing it in park as he ripped open the door.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, Bella? Jesus fucking Christ!" he shouted, slamming his hands on the top of the car.

The tears had already started; rolling down my cheeks in steady streams as he continued to tell me how stupid I was for not looking before I started backing up. My throat was already aching from the effort it was taking me to hold back the sobs that were begging me to let them out and it felt like I had someone sitting on my chest.

"Get out of the car!"

I kept my head down and slid out of the seat, standing in front of him and clasping my hands together in front of me.

"You need therapy, Bella, okay? You need it. You need to go and you need to talk to someone because you sure as fuck aren't talking to me anymore!"

You don't have time for me anymore.

"What are you trying to pull here? Are you trying to make me feel bad? Make me feel worse than I already do when I'm around you? I don't know what the fuck has happened to you lately, but it's like you don't exist anymore!"

I don't exist to you anymore.

"I can't live with you like this! I can't stand it! I don't even know who you are anymore!"

Maybe you never did.

"Do you hear me, Bella?"

I nodded, my bottom lip in my teeth, tears still in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks and my breath hitching in my chest.

"I don't know what to do anymore! If I was smart, I'd listen to Jean and just leave you the hell alone!"

Everyone always leaves.

"Is that what you want, Bella? Do you want me to leave you alone?"

I shook my head, my breath quickening as I twisted my fingers around each other and in different directions, pain shooting through my hands and up to my arms as I bent them in awkward positions.

"Then fix yourself!"

With that, he stormed away, leaving me standing in the open door of my car with my head down. I finally sank back into the seat, turned to face the open bay doors of the garage as I blindly grabbed the door handle, and pulled it closed. He was standing in the middle of them, his eyes on mine as I pressed my foot back on the brakes and shifted the car into reverse again. I watched as his face softened a little and he started back towards me.

No. Not again. I couldn't deal with anything like that again today.

Quickly wiping my face off with the sleeves of my coat, I turned around and made sure that no one was coming down the road this time before I backed out. Jake was standing in the middle of the parking lot when I looked back at him, his arms folded across the top of his head as he watched me drive away, his signature sign of distress.

I made it to work in a daze, not fully comprehending where I was until I pulled into the parking lot and tried to find a space. Finding one, I put the car in park and yanked the keys out of the ignition, placing my hands in my lap and staring hard at the wooden fence separating our parking lot from the rest of the street. With a cry that sounded as though it belonged to an alley cat in heat, I leaned my head against the steering wheel again and sobbed.

I didn't think my heart could break anymore than it already had. Leave it to my best friend to make it fifteen times worse than I ever imagined that it could be.

~*~

I made it into the office exactly at eleven – somehow – and made a direct beeline to the bathroom, ignoring whatever it was that Alice had said to me.

At least, I was pretty sure that she'd said something to me. I wasn't really able to concentrate on much of anything after the morning that I'd already had and as much as I really did like Alice, I just wanted to block everything out.

I wanted to clean my face, sit down at my desk and bury myself in work for the next eight hours without having to think about anything of importance.

Slamming my way into the spacious and sterile bathroom, I dropped my purse and walked to the sink. Looking in the mirror, I saw that my eyes were red and puffy and really, all I wanted to do was go home, take a long ass shower and hide in bed for the rest of the day.

New doctor be damned.

Taking a deep breath, I turned on the tap and cupped my hands underneath the cold water, leaning down and splashing it on my face.

I had a job to do. Alice and Angela were counting on me. This new doctor and all his patients were now my responsibility. I couldn't just leave all of that on them on his first day.

I groaned softly as I reached up and pulled at the paper towel dispenser, ripping a few out and shutting off the water.

Let's add a few more people and their disappointment to the long list I had already started six years ago; why not?

Carlisle, Alice, Angela… I didn't even want to think of my mother or Emmett. Christ, the looks on their faces when I told them that I couldn't do it today…

I buried my wet face into the paper towels and barely muffled a scream, harshly rubbing my face with the rough paper.

With one more deep breath, I balled the paper up, threw it away, looked directly into the mirror and sighed, one word floating through my mind:

Failure.

Swallowing hard and turning away, I walked back to the door, grabbed my purse and pulled on the handle. I walked out of the bathroom and into the front office, keeping my head down as I dropped my purse onto the desk and shed my coat.

"Hey Bella," Angela said, her voice quiet and testing.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held the collar of my jacket tightly in both hands.

Failure.

"Hey," I managed, my voice raw.

Clearing my throat, I walked out and into the lobby, stepping over misplaced toys and swerving around toddlers to hang up my coat. With that finished, I walked back into the office and sat down in my chair.

My eyes immediately landed on the picture of us and watered again, my left hand automatically going to my right wrist. My thumb gently brushed over my tattoo and I took another deep, shaky breath.

Way too much today.

"How'd it go?" Alice asked quietly.

"It didn't," I choked out, swallowing hard and tearing my eyes away from the picture to focus on the blotter in front of me.

"Bella, it's okay…"

"Please," I begged quietly.

"The new doctor's really nice," Angela immediately said, her voice bright and upbeat. "I think he'll fit in great."

I nodded, finally moving my hand from my wrist and reaching out to turn on my computer.

"Cute, too," Alice piped up. "Tanya will love having him here."

The smirk that quickly graced my lips felt foreign and even hurt a little as I shook my head.

"Poor bastard."

They laughed and their attention was quickly – and thankfully – torn from me as a few newborns were brought in by their mothers. They cooed and laughed as they came up to the window and I answered the phone as it rang.

This could be a normal day. I could make it a normal day if I tried hard enough, damn it. Nothing had to be different about it. Just because I'd had a hell of a fucking morning didn't mean that the rest of the day couldn't turn out to be all right.

Half an hour later, I kept telling myself that this day was getting better. I was keeping busy and I hadn't been able to think about anything else; just as I'd wanted it to be.

Just as I was flipping through files on my desk to find the extra patients I'd blessed this Edward with, the door to our office swung open and there he stood. He was very tall and lean, with disheveled red-brown hair, slightly crazed and vibrant green eyes and ten times more gorgeous than anyone had a right to be.

And I had to work with him. Perfect.

I'd never been a very confident, open girl when it came to meeting new people. It took Alice and Angela weeks before I'd even tell them who was in the picture with me and even longer for me to tell them what had happened to him.

Add in someone with gorgeous looks, my own low self-esteem and the complete inability to be anywhere near normal and I have a whole shitload of new problems on my plate.

I'd never wanted to crawl underneath my desk and hide as much as I did right at that moment.

Alice and Angela quickly started talking to him and I fought to keep from swallowing my tongue. I managed some smart-ass comment when they began talking about Tanya before catching myself and quickly sliding the appointment book over in his direction. He stepped up next to me and I froze, every part of me tensing as I kept my eyes fixated on the top of the file folder that I needed to hand to him.

Fuck.

I worked on relaxing and then started rambling about lunch, internally cursing myself. I hated meeting new people. I hated it even more that I had to be the one in direct contact with him.

Angela asked me about going with them for lunch and I quickly made up some excuse, not having any desire at all to be the odd woman out during that. I knew I'd have to face him eventually and I'd have to be comfortable with him at some point – especially if he planned on staying for a while – but that day didn't have to be today.

Any day but today, preferably. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Just not today.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the folders in my shaking hands and turned to look up at him, finally meeting his eyes. I watched them flicker with some sort of emotion and clenched my jaw, pleading with him in my head to just take the damn folders and get away from me.

Instead, I started babbling again and honestly, I don't even know what the hell made its way out of my mouth but it had to make some sort of sense because he was responding to me. Finally, after what felt like ages, he grabbed the folders from me, our fingertips brushing.

I quickly snatched my hand back when I felt a little shock and turned away from him, pushing my hair in front of my face and going back to staring at the blotter in front of me.

Static electricity. That's all. It wasn't anything to be concerned with. It was cold, office was covered in that ugly carpet; made sense.

He finally left after saying goodbye to Alice and Angela and I relaxed, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my desk and cradle my head in my hands.

"Bella?" Alice asked.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, rubbing my hands over my face and taking deep, even breaths.

"Carlisle has an hour free around three-thirty," Angela said nonchalantly.

I swallowed hard and nodded, dropping my hands and puffing out my cheeks as I stared at the computer screen.

"Thanks."

~*~

I tapped the end of my pen against the blotter, gnawing on my bottom lip as I stared at the stupid pop-up on the screen in front of me.

There was paper in the printer, damn it. I could see the paper in the printer. I had put it there not even ten damn seconds ago.

Everyone aside from Tanya and Edward had already left for the day and the office was blissfully quiet. It was relaxing, finally being alone for the first time since I'd woken up that morning and even though I knew there were two other people roaming around, it didn't bother me. They weren't anywhere near me and probably wouldn't be. I was content with that. It was the first thing I found that I could deal with today.

At three-thirty, I'd quietly snuck out of the office and made my way down to Carlisle's, meekly knocking on the glass and staring at my feet as I waited for him to grant me entrance. When he had, all he'd done was close the door behind me, wrap his arms around my shoulders and let me bury my face into his chest like I'd done so many times before.

Carlisle had been the only father-figure in my life in the past few years that had truly seemed to give a shit about what happened to me and he'd been the one that I'd leaned on the most when I had days like these. He didn't judge me for it and he didn't hold it against me; he was just there when I needed him.

I owed him for so much and I'd never be able to repay him.

Failure, the stupid voice whispered directly in my ear.

Snapping my pen down on the blotter, I glared at the printer and pursed my lips.

I just had this one thing to print out and had to clean up the little messes in the lobby from all the kids that had been in and out of there all day before I planned on leaving. I just wanted to go home and take a very long bath – screw the shower – and relax. Forget all about everything that had happened throughout the day, lose myself in the hot water and maybe even have a glass of wine.

I sat up straight in my chair, still shooting evil glances at the printer when I heard approaching footsteps coming down the hallway.

Taking a deep breath and then blowing it out quickly, I watched the door from the corner of my eye as I stabbed at the 'OK' button on the screen with the cursor. I looked up when it opened to see Edward walking in, his hands full of files and a look on his face somewhere between astonishment and absolute terror.

Yep, scared him away already, didn't you?

He apologized, I forced myself to relax and managed to meet his eyes for more than two seconds without looking away. When he asked if he could sit up here because his office was too small, I'd actually snorted in amusement.

The little corner in the supply room that they'd cleared out for him for the week even being referred to as an office amused me more than it should've.

Nervous energy. A whole shit-ton of it.

I turned back to my computer as he sat down, planning on looking over the appointments once again for the next day just to make sure that none of them overlapped – as I had a bad habit of doing every once in a great while – when he actually started speaking to me. I put some of that nervous energy to work when I realized that all of the appointments were fine, quickly beginning to clean up my little space of the desk as I did my best to answer him without having to face him.

Maybe tomorrow I'd be able to face him. Maybe tomorrow I'd be normal enough to carry on a full length conversation with him. Maybe tomorrow I'd just be normal.

Right. Like that'll happen.

I sighed and looked up when I heard a knock on the open door to see Tanya standing there, her blue eyes zeroed in on Edward as she breezed into the office with a grin on her face and a spring in her step. I rolled my eyes, scribbling a note to myself about bringing in a batch of Carlisle's favorite cream cheese brownies in a pathetic attempt at a thank you and trying to block out whatever it was that she was saying to him.

It didn't work, of course, and when I heard her ask him what he was still doing here, I couldn't hold it back.

She had, quite literally, stalked the last doctor we'd had working for us. She was more than half of the reason he left the practice and had moved clear across the country. I wouldn't be surprised if he changed his name altogether. The only reason the charges had been dropped in the first place was that he didn't want to have to see her again or risk the chance of her finding out where he was living.

"Stalking people again, Tanya?"

Then I backpedaled and quickly turned in my chair, scanning Edward's face before I stood up and shuffled out of the room.

Maybe he liked her. Maybe he wanted her company despite the pure craziness dripping off of her.

I had nothing on her. She was ten times crazier than I was and I didn't even care enough to want to know how she'd gotten there. I just knew that there was something incredibly wrong with the way she went about trying to get involved with men. And for someone like me to know better than that, she was pretty damn bad.

But she was kind of pretty and had perky boobs that she made no qualms about hating to hide behind her scrubs. As long as she kept her mouth shut, she could've been the perfect girl for anyone.

Maybe she was the perfect girl for Edward and I was just making everything a little harder for the both of them.

Shaking my head as I walked into the lobby, I grabbed the spray bottle of disinfectant from the child-locked cabinet in the corner and started spraying down the toys as I put them in their proper places.

And I really couldn't help it when she said that he didn't have to worry about a thing because it was common knowledge about her sexual adventures. She made no notion to hide her one-night stands and had bitched about her case of herpes almost the minute she found out that she had it.

If Edward was going to get serious about her, he really deserved to know what he was getting himself into. So it was completely justified when I innocently yelled it out.

"Just that pesky case of herpes, right, Tanya?"

Fair warning and all.

I heard him mumbling that he had to go and clearly heard Tanya suggesting something about restaurants. I chanced a glance over at him to see that he looked very distraught and completely trapped between her and the door and twisted my lips to the side. I put the disinfectant away, vowed to come in earlier tomorrow to finish cleaning up and grabbed my jacket before walking back into the office and rescuing him.

I guess he wasn't interested in her after all.

Well, at least he was smart.

I followed him down to his office and then led him back down the hallway, waiting for him to get his coat on as I stared at everything but him. I vaguely remember him asking me something about actually going out to dinner, and barely remember the automatic response I gave to him before we were standing in the parking lot and getting ready to part ways.

I hadn't been in the presence of another guy – aside from Jake, my brother and Carlisle – in longer than I cared to admit and it was almost terrifying. I don't remember much of what we said to each other – if anything – and hardly remembered walking to my car and getting into it. It was like I was on auto-pilot and until I heard my cell phone beeping at me from my purse resting on the passenger seat as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex, I didn't know how I'd gotten there.

Maybe I needed a vacation. Maybe I'd talk to Carlisle when I came in tomorrow to see if there was any possible way I'd be able to take a week-long vacation to clear my head.

I snorted sarcastically and tapped my fingertips against the steering wheel as I navigated my way through the parking lot. I'd need a lot longer than a week to clear my head.

Shaking my head and parking in front of my unit, I grabbed my phone and stared down at the screen. Rolling my eyes, I sent Jake to voicemail and grabbed my purse, pushing out of the car and slinging it over my shoulder.

No desire to talk to him. Not now, not tomorrow and maybe not even the day after. I was too damn tired and drained to even attempt to try listening to him kiss my ass.

I threw my phone into my purse and locked my car door before walking up to the forest green front door and shoving the key into the lock. My cell phone started ringing again and I dropped my purse on the couch as I walked in, flipping off my shoes and slamming the door behind me as I walked back towards the bathroom.

I was done with this day – in more ways than one – and I was going to hide in my bathroom with a tub full of extremely hot water until every inch of me was wrinkled from it.

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