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  What the ladies in town found most interesting was that particular song, along with Clarkson’s song about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, are the two Dr. Randall favors. Sometimes, they secretly discussed if the good lord would forgive them for their insecurities concerning the fair-haired doctor, and if perhaps they should befriend someone so obviously heartbroken. These fine women also had decided that Dr. Randall was totally plastic. Her hair color obviously from a bottle, her rarely seen eye color must be contact lenses, and her body must have been sculpted from one of the priciest plastic surgeons in Hollywood. They all agreed that Dr. Randall must be smart to be working at the stem cell research lab, and that only cemented their decision that her physical appearance must be created. As Mrs. Stratton had put it, “It’s a fact that women that smart just aren’t that beautiful. It’s an oxymoron.” A couple of the women silently questioned her use of oxymoron, and decided to check the dictionary definition later. Mrs. Linda Stratton was rarely challenged, and when such an infrequent challenge occurred, it was a long time before another one presented itself.

  Michelle Davis gave a slight shake of her head and muttered that she didn’t want her husband picturing the new doctor under him in bed instead of her. The other women quickly declared that the pretty doctor is always too busy with work and exercising, to socialize anyway. So why bother inviting her to any of their homes or community events? These fine women wouldn’t want to disrupt the good doctor’s schedule. A discussion on who should research Doctors Without Borders so they could spread plausible rumors and cement the pretty doctor’s “bitch” reputation followed Michelle’s declaration.

  *.*

  Dr. Randall’s newest patient, young Cory Hendrix, sustained a spinal cord injury in an area where his vertebrae is out of alignment. This occurred during his freshman football practice at the nearby university. What an f’d up way to begin your first year in college. Cory’s injury is documented as incomplete. He lost movement and sensation in his lower limbs, but retains control of his bowel and bladder. Cory’s difficulty lay with the bone surrounding the spinal cord injury. A single miscalculation could leave Cory with no hope of ever regaining the ability to feel and walk.

  Stacy has safely removed stem cells from Cory’s bone marrow to repair the spinal cord injury. This will be accomplished, by inserting the modified stem cells into the damaged area and into the spinal fluid for an extra boost. However, Dr. Randall isn’t sure she can do the procedure given that the surrounding bone needs to be restored. The proximity to Cory’s nerves, is too close for comfort. She’s requested a meeting with her coworkers to see if anyone can recommend a topnotch bone specialist who excels in vertebrae restoration. She respects her fellow doctors and researchers, and has been grateful at how welcoming, given her young age, they’ve all been. Not a condescending one among them, unlike her neighbors.

  Her coworkers’ initially took her under their wings, but after discovering her intelligence matched or exceeded theirs, treated her as an equal, and would even ask her opinion and advice, same as she does them. The one area her colleagues all agreed on was that Dr. Randall hasn’t had the years to develop the tough exterior that is sometimes needed. Stacy’s concerns and regrets are often too visible.

  Chapter 2

  Gabriella couldn’t believe the audacity of her most recent client, and was sorely tempted to haul off and punch the egotistical idiot in the nose. “Mr. Steel,” she began.

  “Ah, didn’t I tell you to call me Nash?” he took a step closer.

  Nash Steel is a rising star with one recent hit movie under his belt, and tremendous screen presence. Females love the way his eyes change from piercing to seductive, and his strong facial gladiator like features. Unfortunately, he is personally uncouth, and an all-around condescending bastard. He is professional image consultant’s Gabriella Powers newest unwanted project.

  Given a choice, Gabriella would choose to work with a businessman over an actor any day of the week. For one, she finds actors to be generally self-absorbed and obnoxious, and for two, with the exception of a few, she finds actors to be too physically slight for her tastes.

  Mr. Steel weighs about 160, compared to what she estimated to be a standard 150 pounds for male actors. The camera adds a good ten to twenty pounds, and with the latest technology, his 160 pounds looks like a semi-impressive 190. He also wears lifts, which makes him appear taller than his five-foot eight-inch height. He has worked with weights so his arms are somewhat musculature, but that’s where it ends. She would guess from his muscle mass that the weights were no heavier than twenty pounds, enough for some additional arm padding but not enough to help chest or abdominal muscles.

  Gabriella noticed that in his one film the producers had him in a t-shirt that was semi-fitted in the midsection, but tight against his upper arms. They also had him in semi-fitted pants and in one scene, it was obvious that the padding on one thigh, which made his thighs appear muscular, was slightly askew. Not that the general population noticed, but Gabriella certainly did. After meeting him face-to-face, she knew they also enlarged his ass. She was convinced that if Mr. Steel ever had to do a nude, or semi-nude scene, that the studio would bring in a body double.

  Men and women, in her opinion, should have some meat on their bones. The male actors appreciate her curves and tend to get grabby. Female actors are quick to point out her 200 pounds every opportunity, but, on the plus side, they at least have to look up at her when making the remarks. Gabriella gave up correcting them about her weight.

  Gabriella stands an impressive five-foot, nine and a half inches tall, and shifts between 155 and 165 pounds depending on her schedule. When she has the time to eat healthy, she does. When she doesn’t, she hits up the drive through windows and grabs meals that can be eaten with one hand.

  *.*

  Gabriella’s personal preference are men who are tall, musculature from head to toe, hardworking, protective, understanding, reasonable, not intimidated by her career, and wouldn’t make fun of her invisible side-kicks. Not too much to ask for, right? Apparently so, since she’s yet to meet such a man.

  Her brief marriage to Robert Powers had turned into a nightmare a month after pledging their love and loyalty. Whirlwind romances are rarely a good idea. She quickly learned that her charming fiancé turned out to be an insecure wife-beater.

  Robert overheard her pleading with Nayen not to make her go out one night. He was bewildered when he saw her cellphone on the table. He left the television on, set down his now empty beer can, and slowly followed her out back. There, he witnessed her begging a coyote to leave. A coyote she called Nayen? Robert backed away from the door and went for his shotgun. Inside of a minute, he returned, threw open the door and took aim.

  Gabriella shoved the long barrel upward just as it went off, at the same time as she shouted at the coyote to leave. It was then that her drunken husband decided he married a nutcase. Much like what her mother went through, Gabriella was called all sort of unflattering names. The difference between Robert and her stepfather, Jovanny, is that Robert dropped the gun and let his fists fly into Gabriella’s face several times. The only reason he stopped was because the coyote returned, and the coward was closer to the backdoor than to the shotgun that lay on the ground.

  With tears pooling in her eyes, Gabriella shooed the coyote away, picked up the shotgun, shot out the locked deadbolt, walked into the house, grabbed her purse and keys, and then left.

  She then followed the waiting coyote, as Nayen demanded. Twenty minutes later, she was in the parking lot of an all-night grocery store, and not 30 feet away was a man trying to coax an adolescent boy into his truck. When he made to grab for the boy, Gabriella blasted the horn on her car, rolled down her window, and shouted, “Hey! Get away from the boy!”

  The man quickly climbed into his truck, without the youngster, and peeled out of the lot. She waited for his mother to run back from returning the shopping cart, before Gabriella too went on her own way—straigh
t to her mother’s home. Several days later, Gabriella returned to her home, when her husband wasn’t there, to collect her clothes and most of her belongings. “What’s Robert going to do? Call the cops? If so, he’s screwed…..” she chuckled to herself. She had her mom take pictures of her face and neck. Gabriella didn’t want any unwanted attention, she’s had enough of that. All she wanted was a divorce or annulment.

  One week later, as she was looking for a cheap attorney to get a divorce, her husband went with his buddies to Northeastern Washington to do some hunting. He was impaled by a caribou. From the reports, he had separated from his friends and they weren’t able to get to him until after the caribou gutted him with his antlers. Robert’s face and neck were also damaged in the attack.

  What brought goosebumps on Gabriella’s arms was when she saw the pictures of her husband from the shoulders up, and realized the bruises were identical to the ones her husband left on her. The caribou was never found. She wasn’t sure if she should be thanking Nayen or be more fearful of him. Gabriella had no doubt Nayen was behind this. He had done this out of anger and to protect her. Still, she worried how Nayen might react if he ever felt she let him down. Would he too punish her?

  Gabriella hasn’t spoken of her two companions, Clair and Nayen, since her elementary teachers heard her talking about them with classmates and suggested psychiatric help, and her former stepfather, Jovanny, wanted her locked up. He did after all, have custody of his brother’s two sons for ten years, unless his brother received early parole. The boys’ mother was nowhere to be found. The boys gave her stepdad the sons he craved, even if by relation.

  Gabriella resigned herself to living a life alone, with the exception of her mother. Gabriella wasn’t so sure her two invisible entities, Clair and Nayen, counted as family, even though at times Gabriella felt as if they were. Her mother, Isabel, is unaware of the outings Clair and Nayen occasionally assign Gabriella.

  Outside of her two sidekicks, Gabriella has, who she believes is the most beautiful and loving mother in the world. Although it took her a while to understand, she now felt strongly that what her stepfather, Jovanny, had done to her mother, Isabel, was unforgivable. Gabriella recalled that last day together as a family with sorrow and anger. It was the day her mom admitted that she was already pregnant when they married, and by an unknown man at that! Her mom hadn’t realized Gabriella and her cousins had come home early from the after-school program, when she had shouted the declaration. A neighbor, who was picking up her own child from the program, decided to save Isabel the trip. When the kids reached the neighbor’s house, they saw their parents’ vehicles in the driveway. They had come home from work early. Gabriella and the boys entered the house to hear the yelling.

  That verbal fight had led to a lot of embarrassing, derogatory name-calling that was heard by their closest neighbors. It was that day that she and her mother left her childhood home for good. The cousins she had come to think of as brothers, were on the porch calling her a bastard child, while the man she believed for years to be her real father did nothing to stop the boys from calling her that horrible name and calling her mother a slut. They never saw Jovanny and his nephews again.

  Isabel signed and returned the divorce papers Jovanny sent over, silently wished him happiness, and then moved on with her life. In the papers, he insisted she take back her maiden name and have Gabriella’s last name changed to Mendez. Isabel and her daughter walked away with their clothes and her car. Jovanny never knew that Isabel had been stashing a third of her paycheck into a safety deposit box during their entire marriage, fearing this day may come.

  She knew that regardless of how much he loved her, that his pride would never allow him to stand up for her and their marriage against his family, if they ever learned her secret. That was why she never wanted to have children with him. Isabel knew she and Gabriella would be kicked to the curb once Jovanny’s family discovered Gabriella was not his child. Isabel saw no sense in bringing other children into a foreseeable battlefield.

  For a long while, Gabriella was angry with her mom for keeping this lie for so many years from the both of them, which was easy enough to do since Isabel immediately ran to Jovanny as soon as she confirmed she was pregnant and told him she didn’t want to wait any longer to get married. Then one day, the truth unexpectedly burst forth like a wizard throwing a ball of fire.

  Gabriella forgave her mom after considering the cultural period of her birth, and her mom’s strict, unforgiving parents. Isabel Mendez did what she had to do to protect herself and the baby she never once considered aborting. Little by little, Isabel provided Gabriella with more information about her real father, and how he was the only man that she’s ever loved, even if she doesn’t know his true name. Isabel liked to think that he felt the same way and left to protect her. From what, she didn’t know.

  When Isabel found out he didn’t work as a cameraman and that the house was actually owned by a non-existent person, she gave up looking. Rodrigo Torres, or whatever his name may be, has no idea he is a father. Isabel shared this information with Gabriella because she never wanted her to believe her father ran out on her, for she felt sure in her heart, that had he known…had she just informed him she might be pregnant…they’d be together. Isabel begged Gabriella to forgive her. Not just for the lies, but also for denying her the opportunity to know her real father.

  *.*

  Gabriella mentally blew out a long breath and glanced at the fish that have begun swimming in an excited pattern in Mr. Steel’s fish tank. “Nash,” she took a step back. “This is our first day working together,” before she could finish, she was once again interrupted.

  He covered up his chuckle with a short cough when she took a step back. Nash believed he made her nervous and that pleased him. “Yes it is,” he tilted his head and gave her what he thought was a seductive glance.

  She drew her brows together and found his perverted leer disgusting. This time, she interrupted, “It’s already getting late, and we need to set up a schedule. You have a very important late night tele appearance in a few days, and we need to take you shopping for some new clothes. I recommend changing your cologne or stop using cologne altogether. It’s attracting both flies and bees. There are many soap and hair products that will leave a subtle, woodsy, sexually provocative masculine scent that aren’t overbearing.”

  “Gabby, are you saying I stink?” he raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look.

  Gabriella held her ground and cleared her throat. “Yes, and I’m tired of swatting at insects. Fortunately, films haven’t gotten to the point where smells come through. You pay for my honesty. There it is. Also, the name is not Gabby. It’s Gabriella, and I’ll talk to your manager about setting you up with a personal trainer.” She was silently hoping he would be so offended that he’d demand a new image consultant.

  “Fine, sweetcakes,” he joked like a man trying to pacify an angry woman. Nash didn’t receive the sly smile he expected from her.

  “Gabriella,” she corrected in what was intended as a firm warning; however, she could immediately tell that he thought her defiance was cute.

  He playfully smiled as if her remark was adorable and irrelevant. “Okay honey, now, we’ll go shopping and you can show me the shower products. I’ll even let you demonstrate them on me, right before I help you wash your beautiful long hair, and those luscious curves.” Nash raised his hands, made a suggestive hourglass figure, and licked his lips as he spoke, just before he started to advance on her again.

  Gabriella held her hand up and sternly decreed, “Mr. Steel, sex is not, nor ever will be, part of the contract. Accept that now. Pet names and innuendos are out also, or you can ask the agency for another consultant. There are others, just as qualified, who are available to help you.” When he was about to speak, she held up the back of her other hand and one-by-one, splayed all of her fingers. Just as soon as he thought he recognized the five-finger salute, she brought her hands together, entwined her fi
ngers, and cracked her knuckles. “If you continue to disrespect me, I’ll inform the agency that you require another image consultant.” Gabriella knew that Mr. Steel, like so many others, requested her because of her looks. She wasn’t opposed to that so long as her clients understood boundaries. She also knew that the agency would reassign Mr. Steel another consultant if she asked.

  Movement in the fish tank once again drew her notice. They were swimming faster and the water in the tank was sloshing up the side. Two fish collided with one another and appeared momentarily stunned. “I’ll come by in the morning and we’ll begin. I’ve already scheduled an appointment for you at Fred Segal for 9. We’ll also look at products by Ron Robinson.” Her eyebrows shot up as one of the fish volleyed right up and out of the tank.

  “Son of a bitch! Look at my couch! Fucking fish.” Nash angrily moved towards the poor fish that was desperately trying to suck air into its lungs.

  “I’ll get it,” Gabriella practically shouted. “I grew up with fish. Just like most everyone else who lives on the west coast. This isn’t unusual behavior. Here, let me.” She moved in front of him, and gently scooped up the fish and placed it back into the tank.

  “Stay put,” she whispered to the fish, right before she turned to face her client. “Nash, I’ll see you in the morning.” With that said, Gabriella didn’t wait for the expected argument. She just left. Once outside, she turned her attention to her spirit companion.

  *.*

  “I didn’t have a whole lot of time with him and could have used the few hours of daylight left,” she softly grumbled without really complaining. Gabriella learned a long time ago never to ignore Clair or Nayen, the price to an innocent was too high. She knew, because of the fish, that this time it was Clair summoning her. So, as usual, she would get into her car and follow the signs: a green light staying green too long—enough for her to pass through, a bird swooping down in front of her car—that she would need to follow, an ambulance with its siren blasting that pulls out right in front of her, and so on. Clair’s signs were always clever and always urgent.