Page 39 of Dr. Scandal Claus

I winced but ignored them and stepped up to the counter. "Uh, Ethan Moore please."

The pharmacist was very professional, moving on like she'd heard nothing. She typed Ethan's name into her computer and asked me for his birthdate to confirm his prescription. Then she turned and sorted through the white plastic baskets on the wall behind her where they organized prescriptions alphabetically by last name.

When she turned around and slid the white sack with his pills in it across the counter, I picked it up and read the labels. But something wasn't right. "Uh, are you sure this is correct? Ethan is supposed to be on propranolol and hydrochlorothiazide. This isn't right." I handed her back the sack and felt concern carving out a spot in my chest.

"Uh, no…" She read the labels and then looked back at her computer screen. "It looks like we have the propranolol and HCZ on file as his previous medication, but Dr. Edwards's office sent the new one over this week. He should take the amlodipine the same way." She handed it back to me with her eyebrows raised and a confident expression on her face.

"But what about the water pill? He has fluid retention. It was helping with that." I took the sack again, but I wasn't sure this was right. Nick wouldn't just switch Ethan's meds without telling me, but then, maybe he said something over the past month, and I'd just missed it because I was so upset and on edge all the time. My life wasn't exactly a cakewalk right now. The way people were boycotting my store and talking badly about me had me really stressed out.

"Uh, it looks like they terminated that prescription. If you're concerned you should call his doctor. I can only give you what is prescribed and since it was sent over this week, it's what we have to go on."

I frowned at her and sighed hard. After the day I'd had and the way Ethan was feeling I just wanted to be home with him, not dealing with this. But I couldn't just let it slide. I took out my phone and called Nick's cell number. It rang four times before clicking over to voicemail, and in the span of that thirty seconds, I felt my stomach tie into a knot. I shouldn't be questioning him. Id' been through this so many times over the past ten months and the last thing he needed was me being dramatic.

I didn't leave a voicemail for him, because I decided I just had to trust that he knew what he was doing. The chances that I had just misunderstood something or even spaced out and not heard him say it were very high.

"Alright, I'll just pay for it." I had to stop being so uptight and worried. I reminded myself for the fiftieth time today that Nick was an excellent doctor. It didn't matter what rumors went around about him. I trusted his professional opinion, and if this was what he wanted Ethan on then who was I to question it?

I paid for the medication and slunk out to my car feeling stupid. The parking lot lights were just flicking to life, and as I walked up to my car the one overhead turned on. There, in thick black letters, were the words "gold-digging whore" painted on the side of my sedan. My body froze in place, feet planted on the pavement as I took in the sight. I was shocked and gutted.

I glanced around frantically but saw no one. The parking lot was empty other than a few cars far in the back, probably belonging to the pharmacist and cashier. Traffic flowed past like normal. But I was angry and hurt. I felt violated and embarrassed, and I jumped in my car with shaking hands and dialed Nick's number again, only to be sent to his voicemail again.

This was getting out of control. I didn't know how much more of this I could take. I didn't know why people couldn't just mind their own business and let things go. I wasn't any of the things they were saying about me, and I didn't know if I could keep going through this. Nick was totally worth it, but maybe I should just stop trying. Maybe things would never get better.

30

NICK

Imissed her calls and I felt horrible. Scarlett had tried to reach me when she was hurting and scared, and I had been driving. Ironically, I was driving to her place to have dinner with her. We both pulled into the parking lot at the same time, and when I saw the way someone had defaced her car, I knew instantly that she was upset. I spent the better part of the evening trying to comfort her, and when she laid Ethan down, she asked me to leave.

In the morning, I stood staring at her car with a bucket in one hand and a scrub brush in the other hand wondering how I was ever going to get this mess off before it destroyed the paint job. Luckily, what she thought was black paint was nothing more than shoe polish, but I knew the caustic ingredients could still eat through the clear coat and do lasting damage if it was left on too long.

I dipped the brush in the bucket of hot soapy water and brought it to the driver's side door and scrubbed hard. Nothing was more frustrating to me in this whole situation than how this town had turned on Scarlett. I was fine when it was just me. I knew how to handle it. They were still saying nasty things aboutme at times, but the tides had turned in the past few months and now I was actually gaining sympathy at times.

But Scarlett couldn't seem to catch a break. I knew it was Fiona too. She'd been caught red-handed telling ladies at the coffee shop that Scarlett lied about Ethan. That I wasn't really his father and that she was manipulating me into dating her so she could access my money. It didn't make any sense at all, because I had the DNA results tucked away in Ethan's medical file to prove that I was his father.

It wouldn't matter though. Even if I went on Marjorie Whitman's show myself and showed the world the DNA results, they'd still say Scarlett was after my money. And why wouldn't they? She had kept Ethan a secret for years and then come back into my life. She and I both knew it wasn't as it appeared, but why would anyone even believe us?

I had to really scrub to get just the first letter off. Judging by the looks of things, it would take all day to do this, but I couldn't ignore it. I'd given Scarlett the keys to my car, but she was too upset. She kept Ethan home from school and decided not to open the bakery, and I told Emily to push all of my appointments to later in the afternoon.

It hurt watching her suffer because of other people's lack of morals. More and more it made me want to ask her to move with me to somewhere we could both live normal lives without people breathing down our necks all the time. Fiona had already destroyed my life once and after painstakingly building back from that, it felt like she was out to destroy me again. And this time there was collateral damage.

"Oh, that's not good. Such a shame," I heard and I knew who it was before I turned around. Fiona clicked her tongue and shook her head at me, and I looked down to where her toy poodle sat beside her. She wore spandex and running shoes, though I knew she wasn't the type to go for a run.

These coincidences just kept happening, random chance meetings where she appeared out of nowhere or just happened to be where I was at the same time. We'd spent the better part of eight years having not seen each other once, and now I saw her twice a week in supposed very random moments. I knew she planned them. She had to be watching me or having me followed. It was creepy.

"Did you do this?" I asked her, scowling. I dropped the brush into the bucket and set it on the ground then wiped my hands across the front of my jeans.

"That?" she scoffed, turning her nose up at me. "Why would I do that?"

She played such a good liar, but I wasn't believing her at all. This whole thing had her name written all over it, even if it wasn't her hand that defaced Scarlett's property. She might not have paid someone to do her dirty work, but with her father's name and prestige, all she had to do was incite people to dislike me and things like this could happen.

"You tell me." I was so angry, but I was controlling myself. Acting like a fool in public would only give people more reason to believe her and talk badly about me and Scarlett. "What happened between us years ago is so far in the past. I can't see why you won't let it go."

"I didn't do this, Nicky." She walked closer and her dog trailed along with her. It growled at me and I glared at it. "I think it's just awful the way people are treating her." Even the tone of Fiona's voice was fake, pretending to care. "I mean, at least they're feeling sorry for you now."

My shoulders tensed as she reached out and smoothed her hand down my chest and left her palm splayed there. I couldn't believe she was saying those things. I didn't want sympathy; I wanted people to leave me alone.

"I mean, that's a good thing, right? They're on your side now. They don't want her to ruin your life." She smiled at me and tapped my chest with her index finger as she leaned closer.