Forever comes in threes, p.17
Forever Comes in Threes, page 17
Ming walked out from the wings to enthusiastic applause and whistles and gave Perry a wink before turning to quickly hug Rayna.
Perry’s stomach twisted, and her thoughts raced. This had to be a joke. Ming’s last name was Davis. Okay. So maybe she used an alias for her public persona. But she’d never mentioned having a podcast. Was she afraid Perry might be a very clever stalker? No. What was between them was real. Wasn’t it? She thought back to the last time they were together. They hadn’t declared love or made plans for a future, but she’d had felt it in every kiss, every caress, and every time Ming gave herself to her.
She saw Rayna’s and Ming’s lips moving, but she felt like they were on mute or that she was underwater, watching them. The only voices registering in her head were her own thoughts…her fears. Ming smiled at the audience when one guy yelled out, “We love you, Dr. Lee.” A camera person shifted his tripod to get a better angle on Ming’s face, and the movement jerked Perry back to reality.
“Why did you study naturopathy after completing your medical degree?” Rayna asked Ming.
“I think a lot of people, because of my Asian features, expect me to say some elder member of my family taught me the value of natural remedies,” Ming said. “Actually, I became interested in naturopathy because many of my patients confessed they’d been self-medicating before finally coming to me. I get it. Doctors are expensive, and prescription-drug prices are soaring. The patients were going online and reading about natural remedies they already had in their pantries or could grow in their gardens. With all the publicity about opioid addiction, I found more patients were willing to see me because I was also a naturopath and wouldn’t dismiss their cheaper home remedy. I might adjust the dosage or recommend a different natural remedy, but I wouldn’t prescribe an expensive drug without first considering a cheaper natural course of action.”
“That’s so very interesting. But what led you to start your Finding Natural Balance podcast?”
“The pandemic lockdown.” Ming cast a glance at Perry. “Americans were already caught up in a pressure cooker. The working class has been shouldering the bulk of the workload in our country’s drive to achieve more and produce more, but without adequate compensation. Home was no longer a refuge from work stress, because the pandemic forced people to take work problems into their homes, where that stress mixed with any personal family stresses. The podcast was a way to reach millions, rather than a few patients in my office, and help them find their balance in this unfamiliar crisis situation.”
Rayna sat back in her chair to include Perry in the conversation. “That sounds a lot like Dr. Chandler’s motivation and goal. So, I have to ask why your podcasts are caught up in this duel that has tripled your audience. Is this a calculated marketing ploy, as some online chatter suggests? Or are your methods actually at odds?”
The question hit Perry in the gut. This certainly wasn’t a ploy on her part. Had it been a stunt that was a piece of Ming’s plan to sell her practice and become an herb farmer? Suspicion and embarrassment roiled into a growing ball of anger. She wanted to grind her teeth. Had she been played all along?
“That would be impossible since I had no clue that—” Perry caught herself before she said Ming’s name, remembering the contract she’d signed earlier that contained a codicil specifying she would not reveal it if she recognized her. She started over. “I don’t enter into business agreements without a complete background check, so there absolutely was no such collaboration on my part since I had no clue to Dr. Lee’s identity before she walked onto the stage a few minutes ago.”
“How is that possible, given the two of you have been seen all over Fresno together?” Rayna asked. A series of photos flashed on the screen behind them—Ming and Perry dining together at a variety of restaurants, them at the pet-adoption event, and Perry stealing a kiss from Ming as they walked the dogs together. “Are you saying your podcasts never came up in conversation?”
“Given my recent problem with stalkers, I try to keep my work separate from my personal life,” Ming said. “That’s impossible to do all the time, so I googled Perry Chandler after we met by chance. When the podcast was one of the first items the search turned up, I resolved to not mention it unless she did. I did allude to the podcasts once, but we were interrupted. When she didn’t ask about it later, I was sure we were in agreement to keep work and personal separate.”
“Your website is scrubbed of any photos, and a million Dr. Lees live in the US alone,” Perry said. “After a lot of searching, my assistant did turn up a photo of a Lee in a Stanford yearbook from around the time you would have finished your medical degree, but the photo barely resembled you.” Her disbelief was turning into anger. Ming hadn’t trusted her enough to reveal her online identity? “And I don’t recall you ever mentioning your podcast.”
“At the adoption event…when I was trying to talk you into keeping the dogs and you said you were too busy with work to care for them. I said maybe you needed them in your life to show you how to find a better balance between work and your personal life.”
“Nothing in that remark could possibly lead me to think you were Dr. Lee. I thought you’d been listening to my podcast.”
“When would I have had time to listen to your podcast? I’ve been swamped with still seeing patients while meeting with my lawyer constantly on selling my practice and my old home, searching for a new one, and packing for the move while still trying to help you find the perfect home for the dogs.”
“You had plenty of opportunity during the time we spent together…as friends.” Perry heard and felt her icy tone. “I would expect a real friend to trust me enough to come clean about a podcast persona trying to undermine my podcast.”
* * *
Ming stared at Perry, who had turned stone-faced. This was the cold, controlled version of Perry from that first day they met.
Rayna didn’t miss the opportunity to throw fuel on the fire in Perry’s accusation. “So should we expect the battling podcasts to become a war, now that you both know who you’re fighting?”
Ming quickly corrected her. “There is no battle.” She needed to defuse this discussion and talk with Perry in private. “We simply have a difference of professional opinion, not anything personal.”
“When one of your listeners asked about Dr. Chandler’s recommendation to set a schedule to better organize personal time, you said…” Rayna read from her notes even though the quote suddenly appeared on the screen behind them. “‘While this might be the solution for trains, planes, or assembly lines, I’ll remind you again that humans are not machines. We’ll talk about why this is not a healthy approach…’”
“That wasn’t personal,” Ming said, struggling to uphold her professional demeanor when she really wanted to slap Rayna to make her shut up. “That was strictly a professional observation.”
“I did take it personally,” Perry said. “You were effectively questioning my qualifications to advise my clients about how they can ease some of the stress in their lives by being more efficient with their time.”
“I was not denigrating your qualifications as an efficiency expert.”
“How about when you said Dr. Chandler was ‘a single female without the responsibilities that come with dependents. So, she seems to be struggling with the discussion that keeps circling back to managing shared personal time’?”
“That’s taken out of context,” Ming said.
Perry’s lips had become a fine line. “I suppose Dr. Lee has to suffer the same diseases as her patients to effectively treat them?”
Ming opened her mouth to tear into that ridiculous statement, but Rayna jumped in first. “But haven’t you landed a few punches, too, Dr. Chandler?” A new quote flashed on the screen. “It sounds rather personal when you said, ‘This Dr. Lee sounds depressing. I wonder how many calls the suicide help line received after that podcast—’”
Ming narrowed her eyes at Perry. “You actually accused me of driving people to suicide?”
To Perry’s credit, she stared down at her hands, her ears reddening, and didn’t deny the statement. Then she looked up and threw Ming’s words back at her. “That’s taken out of context.”
“Looks like we’re all out of time today, folks. Stay tuned, because Podcast Prattle will be keeping an eye on the war between efficiency and balance in the coming weeks.”
“And we’re out,” the video chief-slash-director called out.
Perry tore out her earbud and threw it onto the coffee table that was part of the set. “That remark was taken out of context. I immediately retracted that statement and apologized to my audience for being flippant about a serious issue of suicide. Stay away from my podcast and me.” She spat the words at Rayna. “I’m calling my lawyer to get a restraining order to prevent you from publicizing any further photos of me, so you might as well call off your paparazzi.” She avoided looking at Ming as she wheeled and strode toward the exit door.
“Perry.” Ming struggled to leash her anger and catch Perry, who ignored her and continued toward the exit. They needed to talk about this like two adults. But Perry was almost at the door. “Stop, goddamn it.”
Perry stopped and turned to her. Her blue eyes were as cold as her expression. “I’m a daughter only when it’s convenient for my parents. I will not be conveniently used by anyone else who is supposed to care about me. Like this vlog, we’re out. Over and done. Call Julie when you’ve found homes for the dogs.” Then she was through the door and gone.
Ming was stunned. Then she was furious. How could she have known Perry hadn’t figured out that she was Dr. Lee? And the podcast jabs were simply related to work. Well, the suicide comment was over the top and incredibly insensitive. But the back-and-forth had rocketed numbers for both of them. And Perry hadn’t even given her a chance to explain.
She was so lost in her tumultuous thoughts, she flinched when Rayna spoke from right behind her.
“Thanks for being on the vlog. That was awesome.”
“It was a disaster. I had no idea she didn’t know I was Dr. Lee.” Ming stalked back to her dressing room to collect her purse, but Rayna followed. “Now she thinks I deliberately misled her as part of a marketing stunt to benefit me.”
“Come on. This is only about work. She just needs time to cool off. I bet you’ll both see your follower numbers double again. It’s a win-win, right?”
“Today has been a lose-lose.” Ming grabbed her purse and faced Rayna. Was this woman that clueless? “We were more than friends.” She hesitated, then admitted the fear that was gnawing at her gut. “If I can’t fix this, I will have lost something much more valuable to me than stupid podcast numbers.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ming ended the call as soon as Perry’s voice mail kicked in.
She’d left six messages over the past six days asking to talk, but Perry had not responded. She also didn’t respond to texts. At first, Ming had been angry that Perry was refusing her calls and texts. She’d even driven to her house and banged on her door. The dogs barked, and Ming had talked to them through the door, hoping Perry was inside and listening. She told them how much she needed to talk to Perry, but Perry still didn’t open up. She wasn’t sure what to do next. Go back to Perry’s condo and ring the doorbell until she opened it?
Ming jumped when the phone rang in her hand and answered without checking the caller identification.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Ming. This is Julie.”
Ming’s heart nearly stopped. “Julie, I’m so glad you called. I would have phoned you days ago, but I didn’t have your number, and Perry isn’t answering my calls or texts.”
“Yeah. I know.” Julie’s tone was indecipherable—a mixture of resignation and irritation. “She wants you to stop trying to get in touch with her.”
“She needs to talk to me. I thought we meant more to each other than to let one disagreement end everything.”
Julie didn’t respond for a few long seconds, then ignored Ming’s remark. “She wants me to give you the phone number of a woman she met at the adoption event. She said if the woman hasn’t already adopted some other dog, she’d be a good fit for Tucker. Also, I got emails from at least two dozen people interested in JT after I posted his photo on her social media. Perry asked that you find another foster for Molly.”
Her message was clear. Julie had called because Perry wanted to divest herself of the last connection between them. She’d not only given up on their relationship, but she’d given up on finding the dogs a forever home together.
“JT will be easy to place.” She closed her eyes and willed back the tears that threatened. “I…I have a foster for Molly, too.” She cleared her throat. “I’m not in Fresno any longer. The movers cleared out my apartment two days ago. When can I pick them up?”
“Any time. Perry left on an unnecessary business trip, and I’m staying at her place to take care of the dogs. She asked me to make sure the pups were gone when she returned. She got a letter saying she’s banned from the dog park, and they’re not getting much exercise in her tiny yard.”
“I’ll come pick them up now.”
* * *
Located in the most Americanized city in Mexico, the American chain restaurants at the Monterrey airport and on the way to her hotel seemed out of place to Perry. In fact, nothing seemed to fit right since she’d walked out on Ming.
She had put her podcast on hiatus so she could spend the time researching for her next book. But she’d lost interest in the book, because it only reminded her it had been Ming she’d debated the subject with online. She’d mostly snuggled on her couch with the dogs to binge-watch movies and television series until Julie intervened and forced her outdoors for a long run. The fresh air rejuvenated her some, so she began running every day, then twice a day.
When she noticed Julie was calling less often and had quit bringing over food in an attempt to get her to eat, she invited her over under the pretense of completing some work and was shaken by the dark circles under Julie’s eyes and the tired lines on her face.
“Who did you think was going to pick up your slack while you wallowed in this depression of your own making?” Julie asked. “Either talk to Ming or get off your ass and get back to work. I’m running out of ideas to keep some of your followers engaged in the podcast. There’s a limit to how many ‘best of’ on whatever subject I can edit together from your archived episodes.”
So, she got back to work.
She gave up scheduling her day because she rarely followed her plans any longer. Finding it hard to focus, she bounced from one task to another without completing any.
It was easier to let the dogs dictate her schedule, and Molly had a firm one—morning pee, breakfast, mid-morning nap, backyard break, treats, afternoon nap, dinner, playtime, snuggle time, bedtime. And she was increasingly insistent, barking at Perry until she complied. It was as though Molly had become an extension of Julie, yelling for her to find her groove again. The dogs, like almost everything else, brought up too many memories of the time she’d spent with Ming, and she still couldn’t bear to think about their implosion. It was like a knife that gutted her every time she opened that door.
Then she decided a change of scenery would dull the pain and began meddling in the projects her teams were working on. That was why she was in Monterrey.
A huge company had established a battery plant here, and she was personally reviewing the workflow of their production lines to make recommendations her team would stay to implement. She’d missed fieldwork. It hadn’t diminished the physical pain and lethargy that had consumed her since Ming’s betrayal, but it grounded her enough that she could finally think about what had happened.
Had it simply been a marketing ploy? She’d thought they met by chance, but did they? Ming knew the dogs’ previous owner, so maybe Ming had suggested that her mother dump the dogs on Perry. Okay. That sounded like a weird conspiracy theory, but it was possible. Why else would Ming have kept her identity secret from her?
“Given my recent problem with stalkers, I try to keep my work separate from my personal life.”
That was a thin excuse at best. Besides, the remarks Ming made on her podcast about Perry were really low, considering she knew exactly who she was talking about.
“You actually accused me of driving people to suicide?”
Her ears burned at the memory of her own heartless comment. She couldn’t explain why she’d used the subject of suicide in such a cavalier way. She knew the pain that could lead to taking your own life.
She’d tried once, after both of her parents failed to show up at her high school graduation even though she was making the valedictorian speech. She hadn’t seen her dad for months after her mother kicked him out of the house for cheating on her, and her mother had left the week before graduation on another long research trip. Perry had washed three Oxycontin—all she could find in the house—down with a fifth of vodka. Fortunately, she woke up the next day, facedown on her bed and lying in a pool of her own vomit. She’d showered, cleaned up the mess, and packed her bags for Columbia University, where she’d been offered a full scholarship, and arranged to begin with the summer semester rather than wait until fall.
