Free The Doctor Is In by Carl Weber Page A

about cooking me some good ol’ buttermilk pancakes, cheese eggs, and sausage. I don’t have time to make anything like that for you, but I’ll think of something. Meanwhile, what about going to the bathroom? You really need to clean yourself up. The last thing I want is you walking around my house smelling like a garbage truck. Do you smell this way around Kasen?”
    The one thing Raine could attest to today was that this bitch was crazy. She didn’t want to say or do anything else to set Voncile off. Raine knew that she had to be careful with her words.
    “I don’t smell like this around Kasen. And as for using the bathroom and getting something to eat, I would love to.”
    Voncile got up and left the room without another word, locking the door behind her. Feeling good about the way her plan was progressing, she danced her way to the kitchen to make breakfast. While flipping pancakes and scrambling eggs, she listened to jazz music, the same kind that Kasen sometimes listened to in his office. It made her think of him and their amazing dinner that night. Those lips were on her mind. She wondered if he was thinking about her as well, or if he was at home trying to cope with losing Raine. She considered calling to check on him, but she didn’t want to be too obvious. They weren’t really friends outside of the office like that. If she called out of the blue, asking a bunch of questions, he might suspect something. Instead, she planned to act as clueless as she could about the situation, in hopes that Kasen would eventually tell her about his tragic loss. Whenever he decided to spill the beans, she would offer her support to him. She would make herself available, and let him know that if he needed a strong shoulder to cry on, and a place to lay his burdens, she was there for him.
    Voncile stacked three pancakes on a plate, along with minimal scrambled eggs and two sausages. She grabbed a little something from the pantry for Raine, and also reached for a big aluminum pot. She could barely climb the stairs with so much stuff in her arms, and when she unlocked the door and stepped into the guest room, she was out of breath. She put the plate on the floor, then the pot.
    “You should try carrying all of this upstairs like I did,” she said to Raine. “That stuff was heavy, especially that pot. Feel free to use it as a toilet. I’ll get you some toilet paper before I go to sleep. And as for something to eat, you’re going to love this. I used to have a cat named Daisy. This was her favorite dish. She couldn’t get enough of it.”
    Voncile removed a can of gourmet cat food from her pocket, cracking it open. She put in on the floor in front of Raine, ordering her to dive in. Raine stared at the food in awe. She was too afraid to comment, but the one thing that she was sure of was that she wasn’t going to eat a pinch of the cat food. She would starve to death before diving in, as Voncile had suggested.
    Voncile got on the floor, sitting in front of Raine again. The maple syrup aroma from her plate roamed underneath Raine’s nostrils. Raine’s stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten since the day before, but she would never be hungry enough to eat cat food.
    “This is really good,” Voncile said with a forkful of eggs in her mouth. “I wish there was enough for you, but unfortunately not. I’m hungry because your ex ate up my steak tonight. We had fun during dinner, celebrating his breakup with you. He seems so happy that you left him, and the names he called you—girl! I didn’t know he could talk like that. Did you know his mouth was that foul?”
    “No,” Raine said softly, feeling tears welling up in her eyes again. “And I don’t believe he’s celebrating.”
    “Then you’re a fool, because he is.” She pointed to the cat food with her fork. “Eat up. There’s no telling when you’ll get something else to eat again, so you’d better start chowing down.”
    This time, Raine couldn’t hold back. This