Eileen hummed to herself happily as she stirred the bowl of sauce she was preparing, careful not to spill any on her brand new dress. She was so excited about tonight. She couldn't wait for Lawrence to come over after work, so they could have a quiet dinner together, just the two of them. She had never cooked a romantic meal for someone before. It felt so grown up and sophisticated.
When the phone rang, Eileen went into the hall to grab the receiver.
"Hello?" She answered the phone as she hurried back into the kitchen.
"Eileen?" Lawrence answered. Before he could say anything else, Eileen could tell by the tone of his voice that he had bad news. "I just wanted to let you know that things are getting a little backed up here at work. I'm going to be even later than I thought, if I can make it at all tonight."
Eileen bit her lip as she looked at the half prepared meal in front of her. Mentally calculating how long it would take to get ready, she asked, "How late do you think it will be?"
"Pretty late. Maybe we should just call it off for tonight and reschedule for another time."
"Ok, if you say so," Eileen sighed. She hated to complain about how much trouble she had gone to when complaining wouldn't change anything, but she couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.
"If there was anything I could do to get away, I would," Lawrence promised.
"I understand. Thanks for letting me know." Eileen hung up the phone and looked at the ingredients around her. All of her work wasted . . . or was it? Eileen smiled to herself. She had an idea.
"There you go, baby," Lucy cooed as she tucked Stuart into his crib and kissed him on the forehead. "Nighty night. Sweet dreams, sweetheart."
As she backed away from the crib and turned around, she was startled to see Craig standing behind her.
"Oh! Don't sneak up on me like that," she whispered.
"I didn't want to disturb the baby," Craig said as he stepped forward to say goodnight to his son. When Lucy started to leave the nursery, he whispered to her, "Wait a minute. I want to talk with you."
Lucy waited for Craig to finish saying goodnight to Stuart before following him out of the room. She quietly closed the door behind them once they were in the hallway.
"I thought that Jordan guy was quitting Pheasant Run," Craig said sternly.
"He is, eventually. We're in the process of looking for a replacement. That's why he came over today. It takes time to find the right person."
"I guess it does."
"It would take even longer without Justin's help. I owe him a lot for the work he's done. I don't know what I would do without him."
Craig cringed when Lucy called Justin by his first name. "I bet you don't. Lucy, you used to say that about me. I guess you don't feel that way about me anymore."
"Craig, you're never here. I have to get along without you."
"How many times do we have to go through this? I've tried to get you to come with me, but you come up with one excuse after another. What do you want me to do, quit my job, give up my lifelong dream? Is that what it's going to take to make you happy? Is that what you want me to do?"
Lucy threw up her hands in disgust. "You know, Craig, I don't care what you do anymore. Do whatever you want. That's what you always do anyway."
Cassandra glanced nervously towards the hallway as she and Blaine sat in the hospital waiting room.
"She's been in there a long time, don't you think? Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"
"Doctors are slow and maybe they want to be thorough. I'm sure they'll let you know as soon as they've found out anything."
"I hope so." Cassie took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. "They probably won't find out anything. I doubt there's anything they can do."
"Why do you say that?" Blaine asked. Even as he and Cassandra drove Serena to the emergency room, she too was insisting that there was nothing wrong with her. "What do you think happened?"
"Hey!" Cassie and Blaine's conversation was interrupted as Zara hurried towards them. "I came as soon as I got your message. What happened?"
"Mother had another . . . episode. She passed out for a few seconds and when she woke up she felt so nauseous and weak, we thought she should be checked out. We're still waiting for news."
"Oh no."
"This has happened to her before?" Blaine asked.
"Sort of," Zara answered. "She kind of has these, like panic attacks once in awhile."
"It's never been this severe though," Cassandra added. "I hope she's alright."
"Miss Barrett?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, that's me," Cassie answered quickly. "How's our mother?"
"They're still waiting on a few test results, but so far everything is checking out fine." The girls barely had a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before the doctor continued. "There is something I am concerned about though. My name is Dr. Pons and I've taken over Dr. Townsend's cases while she's away. After discussing your mother's history with Dr. Townsend and after hearing some of the things your mother has said today. I strongly recommend that she be reevaluated. I feel she may need to be recommitted."
"What? No. No way," Cassie stated emphatically. "We just got our mother back after being separated from her for years. She's been living with me the entire time and I know she's perfectly fine. She never belonged in a mental institution in the first place."
"I don't want to jump to any decisions hastily. This is something that needs to be looked into carefully," Dr. Pons said calmly. "But I feel that the possibility does need to be looked into and considered."
"Thank you, doctor. We'll do that," Zara replied.
Cassie turned to her sister in shock. "You can't be serious."
"Maybe it's for the best, Cass."
Eileen smiled as she drove down the street, turning the corner towards downtown for the second time that day. She glanced over at the picnic basket next to her to make sure it hadn't been upset during the drive. The last thing she needed was for her special dinner to be spilt all over the car before it got to Lawrence. It wouldn't be the same as dining at home, but it could still be a special evening. If Lawrence couldn't come to her, she would go to him. He couldn't be so swamped that he couldn't take at least a short break to eat.
As Eileen pulled up to the office building, she was surprised to see that the building was dark and the parking lot empty. Slowly she got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Her heart sank as she tried to open the lock door and saw no signs of life through the windows. If Lawrence wasn't working late, where was he.
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