10/18/22 2:11 pm

Hey sis. Did you talk to dad?

Not today. Why? He ok?

uh… well idk. What do you know about what’s

going on with him and Bobby?

His neighbor? The pharmacy guy?

Yeah, him. Did you know they got into a fight?

About what?

Jessica

Oh. That doesn’t sound good.

I’ll call you later when I get off work.

yeah ok

10:56 pm

literally cannot sleep

thinking about what you told me about dad

I know. It’s awful.

I guess I’m still confused.

Like what is Bobby so pissed about?

Idk. From what dad told me, he’s just as confused.

Do you think Bobby’s just mad that Jessica asked dad

to get her the pills?

I mean, what was she gonna do, ask her own dad?

I wouldn’t!

haha. right?

I just feel so bad for Dad over it.

They’ve been friends for like what, a decade?

Longer than that. They worked together at that

Walgreens in 1998.

Oh that’s right. And then he bought the house next door

after the divorce

It was a really bad fight Amber. Mom is beside herself.

It’ll blow over.

You really think so?

it has to, right? I mean, they live next door to each other

Yeah but you know how dad always said

Bobby can hold a grudge

Maybe I would too if Jessica were my kid

Yeah. Maybe.

10/19/2022 7:14 am

You think I should call dad today?

About Jessica?

Yeah

I don’t think I can help really

but I want him to know that I support him

I think he’d appreciate that

I’ll let you know how it goes

Yes please. He wasn’t doing well the other day

when I talked to him.

5:17 pm

No answer all afternoon

That’s not really like him. Did you call mom?

yeah, I tried her too.

Yardwork maybe? It’s his day off. Maybe they went to a movie.

Idk but it worries me. Just because of … you know

They are both taking it really hard

Hard enough that they wouldn’t answer the phone for me?

oh! he’s calling back. just a min

6:25 pm

what did he say?

11:37 pm

Sorry Annie! Just got home. Dad asked if I wanted dinner

so I went over. We had a really good talk about it. No answers

obviously. Just speculating

He said something about this not being the first time

Jessica came to him. Did you know that? I can’t remember

if you said that yesterday. Mom was all up in arms.

She’d get a lawyer if she could lol

Maybe lol isn’t the right thing to say, but you know Mom

Dad thought that Jessica might have spilled all the beans

to Bobby and that’s why he’s so mad. I get it. I think I’d be

mad too if my kid kept going to my friend for something

like that and my friend didn’t say anything about it. But then

again, patient confidentiality? Idk. Sounds like he was in a

really tricky spot. idk what I would have done.

10/20/2022 9:01 am

Woke up to like 100 messages from you lol

I’m glad you went over. And no, I didn’t know

there were other times

Jessica is how old, do you remember?

like 15? 16 maybe?

eeeekk. yeah. this is a mess.

I think she is 16. I saw her driving out of the

neighborhood last time I went over to see

Mom and Dad.

Still

uh huh

I’m not as confident that this will blow over now that

I’ve talked to him

Why’s that?

Sounds like there was more going on with her,

and he knew about that too.

Stuff that Bobby didn’t know about?

yeah. Maybe her mom did, but idk. Dad didn’t say

Well if her mom knew, then why is Bobby

mad at Dad?

There has to be something we’re missing

Or maybe Bobby is just taking out his guilt

about it on Dad

what guilt?

Put yourself in his shoes for a sec.

Your kid, your high schooler, needs Plan B multiple times

and you’re a pharmacist, but instead of coming to you

to ask for help, she goes to the neighbor. And the

neighbor says nothing to you about it, even though

you’ve been friends for longer than your daughter has

been alive. Says nothing multiple times.

Okay, when you put it that way

I’d want to look in the mirror and ask what I did wrong

that she didn’t trust me.

I’m just spitballing. Obvi idk anything

Well, it makes sense

But I mean, what was Dad supposed to do?

He’s not under any obligation to tell anybody anything.

Plus like I said, there are laws about this stuff

HIPAA and whatever, yeah

So, he either betrays trust of his friend

or betrays the trust of his patient

Do you think he could have said something

discreetly?

How do you discreetly tell your friend that you

gave his teenager Plan B multiple times?

Well I meant more like – hey Bobby. you might want

to talk to your kid about the boys she’s been

hanging around.

I’m sure that would have led to a lot of questions

Yeah you’re right. Poor Dad

I’ll call him after work to check on how he’s doing.

I know he takes things really hard so I just want

to keep him close right now

I get that.

I’ll talk to you later. Let me know if you hear

anything new

I will

10/23/2022 8:22 pm

Hey sis. Mom just called me. She and Dad

are at the ER. Everything is ok. Dad just needs

a couple stitches in his chin.

omg! What happened?

I can’t believe I’m even saying this

He and Bobby got into a fist fight

In the driveway. While getting the mail. Bobby

punched him in the jaw so hard he fell over.

Cut himself on the mailbox flag

what.the.hell.

That’s basically what I said too

These are grown men. I’m seriously flabbergasted

Can you see it? Two pharmacists in their 50s

fist fighting like teenagers in the driveway? If

it wasn’t our dad, the whole thing would be kinda

funny. Like, in an absurdist sort of way

It’s absurdist anyway. I don’t even know what to say.

I thought they were better friends that this.

They are! Or, were? at least, yeah. Their

friendship should have been able to weather

some conflict. After all they’ve been through.

One would think

Mom said she watched it all happen from the

living room window. She heard yelling so she

looked outside, and she decided she would

intervene when it started to get even more

heated, but then they started shoving each other,

and she just stood there frozen. She said it was

like watching a train wreck

I’m sure it’s like a train wrecked through

her whole life

Yeah. Dad has been morose for days

You think now that they’ve had their fight

they’ll get over it?

Lot of hurt or a lot of anger is what makes you

punch somebody else

Hurt is usually what’s underneath anger though

Fair point

10/24/2022 11:31 am

Dad’s not going to his bowling league tonight

Really? Because of Bobby?

He says he doesn’t want to see him right now

Don’t blame him. The guy sent him to the

ER yesterday

Mom told me she got a call from Cindy. She’s

somebody else’s wife. Gary maybe? Idk but she

said Cindy has heard about the fight because Bobby

called Gary to let him know he wasn’t coming either.

Wait. So, then why isn’t Dad going?

Stubborn? In case Bobby changes his mind?

Embarrassed about how his face looks?

oh I bet that’s it. Doesn’t want to explain.

Can’t believe that Cindy called Mom to get

the scoop

lol yes you can

ok fine. I can believe it. I just don’t understand why

people can’t mind their own business

Well, when you’re in a bowling league with the

same 8 guys for 10 years, I guess your business

is everybody’s business

I think she was calling Mom to see if they needed

another sub

They are so serious about their bowling lol

Well Mom said that Dad was on the fence about it

But it sounds to me like he did want to go

until he found out Bobby told everybody

well, he told Gary

If he told Gary, he basically told everybody

Right

So now they’ll both just be at home instead.

In their houses next to each other lol

It is a little funny

Still feel bad for him though

I mean, I still think it’ll blow over

I thought you said you didn’t think so

now that you’d actually talked to Dad?

ok hear me out

The whole thing hinges on Jessica right?

And Bobby HAS to know that there was no real way

that Dad was ever gonna violate patient confidentiality.

The whole thing is just a mask for what the real

problem is. Which is that Jessica needs some

help with her … decision making. Or impulses

Or whatever. I’m not judging her.

Bobby could literally just put her on the

pill if he wanted to. And then the “problem”

goes away

I mean, yeah. but the hurt of not knowing doesn’t

But if Jessica is like “Dad, come on. It’s okay.”

yeah, but what kid is gonna do that?

Kinda makes me want to go have a chat with her

No way. You can’t do that.

I know. I’m just saying

I hear you.

Well, just let me know if you hear anything

new. It’s a mess that’s for sure

Yeah it is.

9:14 pm

ok guess what

what?

I ran into Jessica and her mom at the grocery

You did not

I did!

What’s the tea?

Well

Her mom knows everything

She’s the one who told her to ask Dad to prescribe

Plan B

You’re kidding

Cuz she knew that Bobby would freak out

Why didn’t they just go to any other

pharmacist in the city?

Apparently, they always go to Dad

Really?

I had no idea either

Okay so, this wasn’t just Dad keeping a secret

This was multiple people in on some info

That Bobby just didn’t know at all.

Which makes it harder for him to handle?

Yeah, I guess so

Kinda makes me feel bad for the guy

Yeah, me too

10/25/2022 8:17 pm

Dad wrote him an apology letter. put it

in the mailbox

hang on

He’s the one that got punched in the face

He’s the one that needed stitches

and yet he wrote Bobby an apology?

You know how Dad is. He always blames

himself for everything

How’d you find out?

I texted him to see how he was after missing

bowling last night

Dad is a better person than me

lol me too

And Mom. She wants to press charges

he could if he wanted to

He won’t.

ha! nope. He wrote an apology instead.

How was he otherwise?

He’s down for sure.

He said they were both out mowing the grass last

night and it was awkward lol

hahaha. I bet.

He said he keeps thinking about Michelle Obama’s

“when they go low, we go high.”

Like I said. He’s a better person than me

And he kept telling me that Bobby is a better person

than this too

He would know better than I would

I’ll check on him tomorrow

Today 5:28 pm

Mom said Bobby wrote a letter back

He also put it in the mailbox lol

Really? That’s a good sign!

haha Just knock on the door and have a talk

yeah, apparently it was a nice letter

Did she tell you what it said?

She said it was an apology for hitting Dad

and for taking his anger out on him about Jessica

Woah. That’s introspective

It’s good that he recognizes it

Yeah, I think that’s a good thing

Mom said Dad has been reading it over and over

But he’s not sure if he’s gonna reply to it

I’m sure he’s still really hurt

He is. He won’t be forever. But he is for now

Poor Dad. I hate this for him

Me too.

I feel good about the apologies though.

It’s a good first step.

For sure.

Just let me know if you hear anything new.