ZeeZee realized, dimly, that she wasn’t running towards something; she was running away

“Thanks for making time to speak.” Tammy twisted her hands as she sat down opposite Rikki in her Yad b’Yad office. “This whole year’s been one big fiasco, and I can’t figure out why.”

Rikki nodded sympathetically. “Let’s try to unpack this. Start from the beginning, and tell me everything that’s happened.”

Tammy giggled. “How much time d’you have?”

Rikki tapped her watch. “Forty-nine more minutes, and you’ll receive the bill from my secretary.” She smiled. “Kidding. I’m off duty today, I’m in the office to catch up on paperwork. So take your time, really.”

“You’re the best.” Tammy briefly closed her eyes and then launched into the whole saga. Becoming the popular eim bayit. Cookie Thursday. Having girls over for Shabbos meals every week, until Yehuda asked her to tone it down. Shani’s attachment. Getting in trouble over Shani sleeping at her house. Shani’s downward spiral, her hospitalization, being sent home. Being put under Mrs. Edelman’s supervision. Discovering ZeeZee at Yad b’Yad. And now the campaign, and the terrible turn it had taken.

Rikki listened, occasionally asking a question.

When Tammy finished, she looked at her friend. “So, doc, what’s your diagnosis?”

Rikki tapped her pen on the desk. “You’re not going to like it,” she said at last.

Tammy cringed, but said lightly, “The boundary issue again?”

Rikki leaned forward. “Tam, you have an amazing talent for drawing people to you and you’re a natural giver. There’s so much good you can do.” She sighed. “But if you keep running up against this issue, you’ll just get yourself into more and more trouble.”

“I see.” Tammy coughed. Trying to mask her mortification, she made an attempt at humor. “So how do I become tough and mean like you?”

Rikki didn’t even smile. “You go for therapy.”

“She obviously quit ’cuz she’s helping her daughter.”

“Maybe she’s going to the US to collect.”

“I heard her daughter was arrested with drugs in her suitcase, and Mrs. Edelman’s flying to be with her.”

The lunchroom was abuzz; ZeeZee felt her stomach tighten as she heard one wild rumor after another.