Page 139 of Nocere

"Marita," Anita interrupted, her brows slightly narrowed at the woman she'd named.

"Neets, this is Sami." Marita's bright, shining smile nearly lifted the room with the intensity of her delight.

"I'm with—I can't—" Anita stammered, probably for the first time in her life as Marita dragged Sam over to us. Her entire posture seemed to wrestle with something almost as much as she fought for words. "Marita, I'm with patients," she finally managed, her gaze darting over the faces that stared at her.

"Oh." Marita's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and the four of us tumbled into an awkward silence. "Oh boy."

Sam's gaze fell on Anita then to me as all the revelations blew my mind to smithereens.

"You're gay?" I blurted out, wide-eyed and obnoxiously—for me anyway—as I stared at Anita.

Anita's lips pressed to a thin line as she dragged her gaze from me to Marita. A sallow, drawn expression replaced her usual friendly, even features. A decade's worth of imagery shattered to pieces as Anita's humanity filled the space beside me.

"I'm sorry." Marita's jovialness fell just the same. "I didn't realize. It's Sunday and you don't usually—"

Anita lifted her hand, shaking her head as she drew her gaze back to me. "I'm sorry, Rosie." She drew a deep breath. "We should talk about this."

"Wait… Sam told me about Marita." I gestured between the two of them. "And their past connection. You're the one Marita was in love with for years?"

Anita remained quiet but swallowed harder than usual.

"Primum non nocere," she whispered after the frozen moment.

It made no sense to me, but both Sam and Marita seemed to understand whatever it was. Sam held her hand to me and I stepped away from Anita to accept it. She pulled me into a hug, and I leaned into it. Marita stepped beside Anita, brushing her hand down her forearm to her fingers.

"We can't undo it, Pix," said Marita, her voice soft as Anita. "I'm sorry. Did you know who Sam was?"

Anita shook her head, and cleared her throat. "We should all go inside and sit down."

"All right," agreed Marita, and she followed Anita back into her office.

"Give us a minute," said Sam, her arm around my waist. Marita nodded and they headed inside without us.

Sam and I met each other's gaze. "Whoa," was all I could say.

"I had no idea," she said, letting out a breath. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. Are you?"

She nodded before taking my hand. "Are you okay with talking to them?"

"Yeah, definitely. I had no idea Anita was gay. Is it selfish to be not sad about it?"

"No, but maybe you should talk to her about it." Sam's expression, a mix of pain and surprise, seemed to mirror Anita's somewhat.

"I will."

We returned to the office to find Anita leaning against the arm of the sofa, her head in her hand while Marita stroked her arm. Sam led me to the sofa and we sat together, my hand held in hers in her lap.

Marita and Anita joined us on the adjacent chair. Anita sat in her usual manner as she crossed her legs. Marita sat on the arm of the chair, her hand on Anita's back. Anita's discomfort and tension radiated from her and it made me squirm. I'd never seen her like this before and it scared me a little.

"I'm sorry about this, Rosie," she said, her voice soft. "I need your permission for this discussion."

"I consent to it," I answered right away, eager to get to the meat and potatoes of the situation. "Why didn't you tell me you were gay?" I asked, glancing between them.

"My status isn't relevant to our work," she said, her expression doctor-like again, though more drawn than before.

"Yeah, it is. I've sat on this sofa for thousands of hours spilling my guts about women and it would've helped knowing you understood," I told her and she glanced to Marita. "What does primum non something mean?"

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