I pull up my pants as fast as I can, and turn around to look into the fiery eyes of Shirley Suttell. I've never seen such rage or fury in anyone's face before.
I thought it would be Dr. Stanton, but this is even worse.
"Elizabeth Jane!" she screeches. "What are you doing?"
Then she turns her anger on me.
"Dr. Monroe! I thought you were an upstanding citizen, a member of the church…"
Her voice is so loud I don't want it to attract attention.
"You're right about that, Ms. Suttell," I say, to calm her down. "Here, sit down, and let's talk."
I point towards the same chair she first sat in when she brought Elizabeth Jane in for the exam, and hurriedly close the door behind her. Meanwhile Liz is trying to re-compose herself but her big wide eyes are staring at me in fear.
This is all my fault, and I've got to make it right somehow.
"It doesn't look like you're an upstanding citizen," Shirley prattles on. "It looks like you're a dirty, filthy old man, who is trying to have sex with my daughter during her purity exam."
I realize that from her vantage point when she first entered, she couldn’t see everything. She doesn't know that Liz and I have actually done the deed. She thinks we were just working on it. Now is my chance to use what she thinks she knows to her advantage.
Suddenly I get an idea so brilliant I surprise myself with the ingeniousness of it. Not only will it satisfy Elizabeth Jane's mom, but it will also probably satisfy Dr. Stanton and the business partners with whom we're supposed to merge.
"Now Shirley," I tell her. "Appearances aren't always what they seem."
"Oh, Dr. Monroe," she says, shaking her head adamantly. "Don't try to pull one over on me. I know exactly what I saw."
"Of course, you do," I tell her. "And that's why I'm trying to tell you what is really going on here. What Liz and I— Elizabeth Jane and I— have been keeping from you."
Liz is looking at me with a mixture of astonishment and fear, as if she thinks I'm going to betray her. I'm trying to save her— and myself— but her mom won't let me get a word in edgewise.
"I already know what Elizabeth Jane has been keeping from me," Shirley says, pulling a black and white notepad from her purse. "I found this."
She removes a loose piece of paper from the front of the notebook and thrusts it at me as if it's proof of a crime. As my eyes fall on the words, I realize it's something that Liz has written about me. The diary that she mentioned earlier.
"Mom, those are just fantasies!" Liz cries out in protests.
"I know they are, but Dr. Monroe here seems intent on making them a reality."
"Why were you even reading them, Mom?" Liz yells.
Both her mother and I turn to look at her, surprised at the feistiness in her voice. This is not the demure young woman who walked into my office not too long ago. She's already blossomed and matured.
"I'm sick of you controlling my life," Liz says. "I'm making my own choices and there's nothing you can do about it anymore."
"There most certainly is," Shirley says. "Because I'm the one who funds this little life of yours. You'd be nothing without me"
I look back down at the paper in my hands and read about how much Liz loves when I penetrate her, claim her, own her. Her deepest, darkest desires are all about me, just as mine have become all about her. I know for sure I need to do whatever it takes to protect her. I need to move forward on the idea I've just had.
"Actually, Shirley," I say, looking into Liz's eyes to signal that she should go along with what I'm about to say, "I was trying to fulfill Liz's fantasizes. But she won't let me. Not until we're married."
I'm not sure who looks more surprised— Shirley or Liz. Liz's eyebrows furl in confusion but she nods her head, going along with whatever, I say.
"You're… together?" Shirley asks, looking back and forth between Liz and me. "Since when?"
"We're engaged," I tell her. "We're getting married soon."
"That's ridiculous," Shirley says. "You're old enough to be her father. You should be with…"
She juts out her chin before finishing the sentence. But I know she was about to say I should be with someone like her.
"…someone your own age," she finally concludes. "And Liz," she says, shaking her head back and forth. "You know relationships don't last. Dr. Monroe just wants to use you for sex. As soon as you give it up to him, he'll dump you and move onto the next hapless victim."
Liz gives her a smug look, and I can tell she's thinking that she's already given it up to me and I'm still sticking around. In fact, I'm proposing the preposterous— engagement.
But not real engagement. Just pretend. It's only for my career. It's only for her reputation. That's what I tell myself. But as soon as Elizabeth Jane walked into my office needing a purity exam, all my normal rules flew out the window. I'm not supposed to fall in love. But I'm not supposed to fuck my patients, either. I do a lot of things I'm not supposed to do with her. Including getting myself into a fake engagement.