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myself these past few months, but a loofah and a razor would have to do in a pinch. I got in and actually enjoyed the feeling of hot water pelting down on the top of my head.
    Twice I washed my hair with my Satin Sheen for Megacurls shampoo, and as the lovely-scented lather flowed down my shoulders and back, I felt shiny and new. The bath and body scrub also revived me, and I only climbed out of the shower once the razor had won the battle against my furry legs and my hair had clogged the shower drain. I wrapped myself in a large towel and pattered into the bedroom.
    There had to be some clothes left I could still wear. I found a loose light-blue skirt with an elastic waistband, and a dark-blue top that I could wear underneath an unbuttoned blouse. Satisfied, I posed in front of the mirror: not bad for starters. Back in the bathroom I blow-dried my hair, applied a generous helping of day cream, and even used my eyeliner.
    Wow! I was restored—at least as far as my tired eyes and pallid skin would allow.
    Hesitantly, I stepped over to the window curtains and opened them.
    Dammit! It was raining.
    I mean, a bright sunny day would have worked so much better with my resurrection! And my flimsy skirt. For a moment my hands twitched on the curtains, wanting to reestablish shade and block out that gloomy day, and the thought of returning to bed briefly flared up in my head. But a knock on the door saved me.
    “Piper? Open up, or I’m letting Smokey kick down the door!” Jenna’s voice warned.
    I rolled my eyes, wondering what the two of them were doing here. If Jenna had called for backup, I guessed it must be very important.
    Smokey—Kevin, actually—was Daniel’s best friend. Before Daniel and I met, Kevin and I had dated for a short while, but that was more than ten years ago. These days we were just really good friends.
    He had worked with Daniel at the fire station, which was where he acquired his nickname. I only ever called him Kevin because I knew he didn’t like Smokey much, but everyone else seemed to enjoy using this nickname just to wind him up.
    “What do you want?” I asked sullenly, thanking the Lord I had put on real clothes and wasn’t still wearing Daniel’s boxers.
    “Let us in!” she demanded at the top of her lungs, pounding on the door again.
    “Jesus Christ, Jenna! Enough with the yelling!” I called and opened the door.
    “Hey, Kev,” I said, and asked them both to step inside.
    “Jeez, Piper!” Jenna groaned and rushed into the living room, where she immediately yanked open a window. “What did you do with all the oxygen? I didn’t realize humans could live without it.” She looked me over and grimaced. “Well, I guess living is not the right word.”
    Huh? What the heck? I had put a lot of elbow grease into this and thought I looked pretty darn presentable! But Miss America here seemed to have a different view.
    At least Kevin was giving me a smile. He shrugged his shoulders as if to apologize for Jenna being so up in my face.
    “So, what do you guys want?” I asked, feeling like I was allowed to be blunt. After all, it was nobody’s business how I decided to live.
    “Jenna made me come,” Kevin confessed. “She said she needed bigger guns to make you get out of bed.”
    I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hide how touched I was that the two of them were worrying about me.
    “Well, as you can see, I am no longer in bed!”
    “Yes, sweetie, but you’re also not where you’re supposed to be! Dr. Travis came to see me in the break room during lunch, and she said that she would cross your name off her list of patients if you keep making appointments and breaking them!”
    Shit, the appointment! Feeling guilty, I put a hand on my stomach and pressed my lips together. I was being a terrible mom to this sweet little baby—even before it was born.
    “I told her I would make sure that you’d show up in her office on Friday. Which means I have three days to whip you into