Since Craig was going be out for the evening and Lucy wasn't looking forward to staying in alone, she asked Eileen to meet her for dinner.
When Eileen saw Lucy waiting outside the restaurant, she immediately noticed how upset she looked. "Oh, Lucy, what's wrong?"
"Everything," Lucy sobbed. Lucy sniffled and dried away her tears. "I came here straight from a meeting with my lawyers and I just found out the latest news in the investigation. The police found evidence that someone intentionally gave my dad an overdose of his medication."
"I can't believe it," Eileen gasped. "Was it one of the hospital staff?"
"I don't know," Lucy shook her head. "The police found empty pill capsules in the trash in his room and residue on his drinking glass. The staff said he hadn't had any visitors since the night before."
"Really?" Eileen said, her mind going back to the conversation she'd had with Hector right after the funeral. Hadn't he said he'd visited Clifford on the day he died.
"The news just really shook me up," Lucy said, breaking Eileen out of her thoughts. "I just can't believe someone would want my father dead."
"Neither can I."
Lucy and Eileen waited until they were inside and seated at a table before resuming their conversation.
"I'm sorry for dumping all of this stuff on you, Eileen," Lucy apologized. "It's just that I've been so stressed out lately with handling my father's affairs, the lawsuit, and my own life. I have so much responsibility now, and I'm not sure if I can handle it."
"You'll get it sorted out, I'm sure," Eileen said supportively.
"I'm thinking about dropping out of school," Lucy hesitantly admitted. "but Craig's trying to talk me out of it."
"I hope you listen to him and don't drop out. You would make a terrific doctor."
"Thanks. Have you told your dad about your plans yet?" Lucy asked, subtly changing the subject
"No . . ." Eileen admitted. "I almost did today, but he's so worried about me finding something stable, that I couldn't do it. He would think I lost my mind if I told him I'm planning to switch my major to paranormal studies. There's no way he would approve. Maybe if I found some suitable guy to marry I could tell him without making him worry."
Lucy laughed, "You? Thinking about settling down? With which guy?"
Eileen laughed along with her. "I don't know. I think Daddy was trying to push me toward Hector today."
Lucy's bright smile faded, "Oh," she said, then added, "Hector's nice."
"You don't have to pretend to like him, Luce, not for my sake."
"I do like Hector," Lucy said. "It's just my Dad distrusted him so much. It's hard for me to warm up to him."
"It's all right. I'm not so sure how I feel about him either," Eileen mused before changing the subject, "So what about your new guy, the hot musician?"
Lucy's smile returned. "It's going great. He's been over at the house every night since the funeral," Eileen raised an eyebrow. "He stays in the guest room," Lucy scolded. "He's been so great. I don't know what I would have done without him."
"Sounds like you're crazy about him."
"Oh, I am."
"Going out with your fiancee again tonight?" Alma taunted as she walked past the open door of her sister's bedroom, where Amanda was getting ready for her date.
Amanda turned away from her mirror. "What's your problem with me and Andrew?"
"You're really so self centered that you have no idea, do you?" Alma replied, angry that Amanda could be so oblivious. "Do you ever think about how what you do affects other people? Do you ever think at all? Where are you and lover boy going to live after you get married, huh? Do you even know?"
For a moment Amanda was too taken aback by the outburst to even reply. "I don't know. We haven't talked about it yet."
"Figures," Alma scoffed. "I can tell you what's going to happen.
You're going to move out and leave me stuck here alone with mother. Not that I should notice the difference, since I'm stuck doing everything around here anyway, while you're running around having fun."
"I work. I have a job," Amanda offered in her own defense.
"Right. And how am I going to work and take care of mother, once you're out of the house?" Alma asked. Amanda tried to think of a reply, but Alma cut her off. "Fine, go ahead and abandon us for your man. I'll find a way to handle this myself, like I always do."
As Alma stormed out of the room Amanda called after her, "I'm happy and you aren't going to take that away from me!"
As Alma shut herself in her own room, there was a knock on the front door. Amanda considered trying to talk to Alma some more, but decided to leave her alone and go answer the door, hoping that by the time she got home, Alma would have cooled down.
Alma waited until she heard Amanda leave the house with Andrew, before leaving her bedroom. She went downstairs and watched through the front window as Andrew was opening the car door for Amanda. Alma felt herself grow jealous. It just wasn't fair. She was the oldest. She should be married first, but here she was already in her thirties and hadn't even dated since she was in college. She decided that she wasn't going to sit in this house and grow old alone with her decrepit mother, while Amanda got everything, she would see to it.
Andrew and Amanda spent the evening at a concert followed by dinner in a romantic outdoor bistro. It would have been a lovely evening if Amanda hadn't been too preoccupied to enjoy it.
"You've been quiet this evening," Andrew remarked.
"It's nothing. Just thinking about an argument I had with my sister before we left," she sighed.
Andrew laughed, "I guess I was lucky to be an only child." Then noticing that Amanda really seemed upset he added more seriously, "It wasn't over anything serious was it."
"No, just Alma being herself again."
"Then don't worry about it. You've got more important things to worry about, like a wedding to plan."
"Right," she said feeling less excited than she had been.
"And I'm leaving all the planning totally up to you," Andrew said. "I have no sense of style."
Andrew spent the rest of the evening trying to cheer Amanda up, but her somber mood wouldn't change. When she barely responded to his goodbye kiss on her front porch, he knew this was about more than a fight with her sister. Something was really bothing her.
"Amanda, what's really wrong?" he coaxed.
Amanda sighed deeply and then turned to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry, Andrew," she said quietly. "but I'm not sure I can marry you."
Andrew was stunned. "What? Why not? What did I do wrong?"
"It's nothing you did," she said, struggling to explain. "I just think I made a mistake when I said yes to your proposal."
"What is this about Amanda? Don't you love me anymore?" Andrew asked, desperately searching for some explanation.
"Yes," she said teary eyed. "Of course I do."
"Then, I don't understand. What's changed?"
"When I said yes, I thought you were going to be promoted and would be making more money . . ." Amanda began slowly.
"What?" Andrew asked, growing outraged. "So you can't marry me because I'm not rich enough? Well, I'm glad that I'm finding out now that you're a selfish witch instead of after we were married."
"I can't believe you'd actually think that about me!" Amanda exclaimed, becoming just as angry as Andrew. "It looks like we both found out something about each other tonight." She pulled the ring off her finger and threw it at him. "I'm not even going to waste my time trying to explain this to you. Goodbye." She stormed into the house slamming the door behind her.
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