Page 4 of Doctor Grump

Actually, shemight bestalking me. It wouldn’t be the first for me, although I hadn’t had stalkers quite as delectable as this one before.

Damn it, don’t go there.

But it seemed my mind was already going there as my eyes waywardly tracked down her frame, which was silhouetted by the sunlight. Her hair was an auburn mass around her head, her eyes glinting with humor. Her innocent and light smell always teased my nostrils whenever she came around, and it stoked a hunger inside me that I thought age had tempered. Fuck, I’d had the first wet dream in over twenty years because of her, and I could still remember it. I could remember peeling off the buttons of her sundress one by one and exposing her creamy skin, the swells of her breast coming into view next, then me pulling down her bra and seeing that delicate pink point…

Fuck, I was getting hard just thinking about it.

It was another reason I avoided Piper like the plague. While I was a forty-two-year-old man with healthy sexual appetites, being around this woman made me feel like a damn wild predator, and it would do no good to be attracted to her. I couldn’t think of anyone less suited for her than me.

“I know who you are,” I responded, and she gave a smile of relief.

“Oh good,” she replied happily. “I thought you had forgotten me. Although, that wouldn’t be so bad. I’m not sure I made such a good impression at the party.”

She blushed as though remembering it. She had come up to me a little tipsy that night and proceeded to introduce herself. After that, she had talked my ear off, even proceeding to reveal details of her life that I wasn’t sure I should have been privy to. I got the sense that it was a combination of nerves and her tipsiness that caused her to overshare so much. It was also what made her ignore all my given warnings that I was not to be approached. She talked to me until I finally simply walked away from her and exited the building.

That would have normally been the only hint one needed to never talk to me again, yet here she was once again, trying to make conversation.

“May I sit here?” she asked, gesturing to the chair next to me.

“No,” I said immediately, and her smile disappeared.

“Excuse me?”

“Alright, that was a great speech, Frederick,” Mick suddenly announced, and we both glanced in tandem to see him jog up to the podium when it was all done. He was holding a pile of papers as he faced the crowd, and nerves flashed across his face for a few seconds before he cleared his throat. “I’m sure we all have things to do, so I will try to make this as quickly as possible. We will begin the reading of the final testament of Judith Santorini now.”

There was an audible sigh of relief that went through the crowd, and it was almost like everyone woke up at that moment. Despite what I said earlier, Piper still slipped into the seat next to me, much to my annoyance.

“I, Judith Ann Santorini, resident of Gracetown, Lousiana, being of sound mind and not acting under duress or undue influence and fully understanding the nature of all my property and its disposition thereof, do hereby make, publish, and declare this as my last will and hereby revoke any other wills and codicils heretofore made by me. In terms of debt….”

“I didn’t know you knew Judith,” Piper whispered as the lawyer continued.

“I don’t,” I replied. “Not really, at least. I just saw her for a few sessions a week.”

“Ah,” Piper said. “So you were the asshole doctor who kept trying to get her to take her meds.”

“I…guess?”

Piper smiled, and I saw fondness fill her eyes. “Don’t be too offended. Judith only speaks that way about people she likes…uh, well…spoke, I mean.” Sadness entered her gaze at the last sentence, and she looked away as though remembering. Out of everyone in attendance, she was the only one who had an aura of sorrow around her, and it made me a little uncomfortable to see.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I found myself saying.

She nodded and swallowed. “Thank you.”

The reading of the will continued with the bequeathing of businesses to the eldest son. Then, Mick continued, “And to my beloved granddaughter, Piper, I bequeath a lakehouse in the Grand Isles, currently valued at 50,000 dollars.”

“That’s it?” I heard a woman loudly proclaim from the crowd, followed by another voice exclaiming, “Eugenia, please!”

Piper blushed and glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. “That was very nice of her,” she muttered. “I didn’t think she was leaving me anything.”

“You’re her granddaughter. Why wouldn’t she?”

“Well, Judith made it clear that most of her fortune would be going to her firstborn, Fred.” She pointed at the first man who had spoken up. “Because he was the only one she found fit to carry on her business. He won against his younger brother, Earl. And so, as tradition dictates, he gets the fortune. Plus, I’m not really her blood granddaughter anyway.”

“I see.” It all made little sense to me, but I didn’t want to encourage a conversation by asking for an explanation.

When it came to mentioning Frederick, Judith bequeathed him the majority share of her company as CEO. I could feel the tension in the crowd as the will-reading continued, with every other member of the family receiving one item or two at most.

Then, without a pause and with a final nervous glance at the crowd, Mick began to read, “And finally, I, Judith Ann Santorini, being of sound mind, bequeath the majority of my fortune, including inheritance, assets, investments, savings, and other accouterments, valued at about 500 million dollars, to Dr. Ian Graham, my psychologist.”

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