Free Fat Chance by Brandi Kennedy Page A

dishwasher.
     
    "What's transference?" I ask dryly.
     
    "That's when you can fall in love with your doctor because he's a great caretaker or something. Or you know, like your therapist, because he's a good listener," Renee explains.
     
    "Well, I'm sure it doesn't help that he's apparently hot," Chelsea laughs. "I've never known Cass to talk about a guy like that before."
     
    "Well, he's definitely hot," I laugh, stacking the last plate in the cabinet with one hand while trying not to drop the phone. "He's really tall, and he's built. So he makes me feel small, and I like that. He has these broad shoulders, and his hair is short, and his eyes --" I've gone dreamy, so Renee has to step in quick, before I can get myself into trouble.
     
    "Looks like his eyes are putting him in danger to me," she says as I snatch my glass from the counter and head back to the living room.
     
    "What?" I sink into the couch, setting my drink on the end table waiting for Renee to answer me.
     
    "Duh, Cass, you don't know this?" Chelsea asks. "It's kind of illegal for a therapist to mess with a patient. He'd lose his job, his practice, his license."
     
    "Oh, wow."
     
    "Well, not really illegal. Like, he wouldn't go to prison or anything. But he'd lose his license for unethical conduct. So, you need a new therapist. A female," Renee says, and her tone is stern, like I'm six and she's my forty-year-old aunt.
     
    "No I don't," I laugh. There's a Sudoku book on the coffee table in front of me, with only a few simple puzzles left to do. I lift the book and open it, still talking. "I can deal with the attraction, and if it's transference, it'll maybe wear off. But really, aside from being attracted to him, he fits as my therapist. He makes me laugh even when I'm being serious, which helps me to keep moving forward. And it does make it easier to keep talking. I think he's a little unconventional, but he's helping me, and I'm not willing to let go of that just because he's nice to look at."
     
    "Well, if you have to keep him, there is another strategy for keeping him out of the unemployment line," Chelsea says, and now she's playful. I'm glad she isn't angry anymore; I hate it when she's mad at me.
     
    "Okay, like what?" My pen is frozen, because part of me knows where this conversation is going. Tossing the pen and the book back to the table, I drop over onto the couch, stretching my legs until my feet hang over the side.
     
    "Distraction," she sings out, laughing. "Let me set you up. I know this guy from work, and --"
     
    "Uh, no." I shut her down before she has a chance to say much of anything. I'm pretty sure I don't want some guy who has to be set up with a woman because he can't approach women on his own. And I am definitely sure that I'm not the type of woman who's willing to be set up with any guy.
     
    "I'm not doing the whole blind date thing, Chelsea. I just don't have that in me; I want someone who wants me enough to ask me to be with him. I want that classic dinner date, not because my sister arranged it for me, but because some guy wants to hold my hands across the table, and he won't care if I order steak instead of salad."
     
    "Oh come on, Cass," Renee chimes in. "I know a guy too, and he's really sweet."
     
    "Mmhmm," I answer. Rolling my eyes, I catch sight of a stray bra lying on the floor. Jeez, that thing is huge. "Is that why your Mr. Perfect doesn't already have a girl? Thanks, you two, and I love you both for all this, but I'll meet a guy when I'm supposed to meet a guy, I guess. You've definitely convinced me to stay away from the doctor as anything other than a patient, though. You're probably right about it costing him his license. And I can't cost him his entire career, even if the attraction does go both ways. I'm just not that person."
     
    "Well, it's not even just the license. I mean, obviously, he's a bright guy, he could go to school for something else, and maybe he might like a career change," Chelsea laughs.