"Sam, it's me," the woman said, touching my elbow gently.

I didn't turn to face her, my face buried in Michael's shoulder as I carried him, still covering his ears, screaming. "I don't know you," I whispered as the alarm beeped twice and stopped.

Behind us, Erik emerged from the clinic doors, with Olivia right behind him. She was holding the car keys in her hand, unlocking the doors for me.

"Livvy, go back inside," I heard Erik say as he approached.

The woman everyone called Miss Marlin looked at me with wide eyes, the realization of my words sinking in. I could not hide the panic from my face, the world I'd tried so hard to recreate crumbling now in the wake of her appearance back in my life. Why here of all places? I wanted to scream at her.

When Eunice helped me get my juvenile record expunged, I saw it as a new beginning. It mean that the past would no longer be the only reality I knew. I had a chance to reinvent myself and I did. But it also meant that I stayed in the South Bay, never venturing north of the 105 unless I really had to. That way, nothing from my past could touch me.

Until now.

"You're looking really good, Sam," she said softly. "But I understand. I'm sorry for everything. I really am."

"Anna, what's going on?" Erik asked as he finally reached us. "Why'd you run away like that?" He stopped and looked at Anna, then to me and back.

"Do you know each other?" He asked.

Before I could reply, Anna shook her head. "I thought she was someone I knew, Doc. But I was wrong and I'm afraid I scared the poor baby."

Erik turned to look at me. "Are you alright? You looked like you saw a ghost back there."

I nodded, pulling open the car door and buckling Michael in his car seat.

"Can I meet you back at the consultation room, Anna?" Erik asked. "I'll be right there."

"Sure, Doc," Anna said before turning to look at me. "Look, hon, I'm sorry I scared you like that. You just reminded me of someone I used to know. She was just as pretty as you."

"Maria's getting your prescription ready, Ann," Erik said. "I'll meet you inside, and we can talk more, okay?"

"Okay, doc," Anna said, walking away. I could feel him right behind me, waiting for me to straighten up. I'd been tightening the buckle to Michael's seat belt the entire time, not turning to face him.

"We might be close to skid row, Sam. But my patients aren't dangerous," he said. "I know she scared you, but you didn't have to run away from her like that."

"She just scared me, Erik, that's all," I said. "Is she one of your harm reduction patients? Is she detoxing?"

Erik smiled. "You know I can't tell you what she's here for. But since you know that's all I'm doing today, then I don't really need to give you an answer now, do I?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw a black BMW drive into the parking lot, and park into one of the spots marked Physicians Only. From the window, I could make out Maria's face, along with another employee, watching us.

"Your walls are going to start talking soon," I said as Erik turned his head to look at the building. Then he turned back to face me.

"Then let them talk all they want," he said, drawing closer. "I'm not ashamed to be seen with you, Sam, no matter how much you tell yourself that I am - or that I should be."

Then before I could say anything, Erik kissed me in full view of the clinic - including Serena, who was coming out of her car. It was a gentle kiss, but it lingered much longer than was necessary.

Olivia chose that moment to come out of the play area with Bella in her arms. I heard her say hello to Serena as Erik finally drew away, his eyes watching me carefully as I felt my face burn with embarrassment. Then he opened the passenger car door for me and waited till I got inside, kissing me one more time just for good measure.

"You really are putting on a show, aren't you?" I asked.

"It's not a show, Sam. But if this is what I have to do to convince you that I'm not ashamed of you, then I'll give them all a show. But this is really just for you."

Olivia buckled Bella into her car seat behind us. "You guys should get a room," she chuckled. "Oh, right! You'll have both houses to yourselves for the whole week. Just don't wake the neighbors."

"Livvy, stop it," Erik groaned, reaching across me to buckle my seat belt despite my protests. "Anyway, you two drive safe. And you," he said, pinching my chin playfully. "I'll see you tonight and we can talk some more. Dinner at eight okay?"

"That would be great," I said, blushing as Erik shut the door.

"You two are too sweet for words," Olivia laughed as she started the engine. As she backed up the car, I saw Serena watching us by the door, before storming into the clinic after Erik.

"Serena doesn't look too happy," I said.

"She never is," Olivia said as she backed up the SUV and drove out of the gate. "Not since Erik and her broke up when he brought Bella and I back here from Italy. She couldn't understand how he would want his own sister to live next to him."

I sat in silence as Olivia drove through the streets of downtown LA towards the gallery. She began talking about how the four days of the harm reduction program were critical for addicts trying to get clean, how important it was for them to stick to what was required of them, from the initial group sessions to the individual counseling with the doctors and psychiatrists, and even to the holistic treatments that followed, like reiki and acupressure designed to help deal with the cravings. I really had no idea why she was telling me all this, but I said nothing.

"Some of them are still on the drugs when they start the program," she said. "But the intent is there at least - to quit - for they've paid the fee up front to the clinic instead of blowing it on heroin or opiates. Erik dispenses the suboxone which helps with the withdrawal symptoms and the cravings."

"Is that the drug to help someone quit heroin?" I asked.

"Heroin and opioids," Olivia replied. "Prescription drugs."

"Does Serena help out with the harm reduction program, too?"

"Nope."

"Then why was she there today?"

"Erik penciled her in for some meeting. But that's between them."

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the gallery owned by Chase and Sterling Kolman, who happened to be identical twins. With the children snug in their strollers, a baggie filled with fish crackers for Michael and a bottle of milk for Bella, we were able to do a quick tour of the gallery. The twins told me that my paintings were displayed in the back room, along with the works of two other local artists.

At first, learning that my pieces had been placed in the back room disappointed me. Maybe it was Collin building up how awesome my work was, giving me an inflated sense of self-worth, but I squashed the thought before it could take a life of its own. It was enough that the twins chose my work to be included in the exhibit, I told myself, my thoughts then drifting to David, and wondering if they knew about him.

"We're waiting for one last piece to be delivered this afternoon and then we're set to go," Sterling was saying as we made our way towards the last room where my paintings hung on the walls. Except for a stepladder and a bucket with tools, the entire back wall was bare.

Olivia had our pictures taken next to her portrait, with the twins standing on the opposite side. She was thrilled to be included in the exhibit and the men were more than happy to have her drop by a day early, her enthusiasm winning them over as much as her beauty did. They couldn't stop staring at her. There was just something about Olivia that beamed from the inside, and she was one of those people I would call not just pretty, but beautiful - both inside and out.

By the time we left, I could tell that Olivia had charmed them both completely and she left with both their business cards that they had handed to her, telling her to call them with any questions she might have regarding art. It was a competition between both men, and they relished egging each other on. They had even scrawled their personal cell phone numbers on the back.

"They didn't write their personal number on my card," I chided her as we got back into the car and buckled the children into their car seats.

"They better not!" She exclaimed. "Or I'll tell Erik on you. He doesn't handle jealousy very well, just so you know."

"How could he be jealous? He seems so laid-back," I said as we got in the car. I turned to the back to hand Michael his toy trains, hoping it would keep him occupied on the way home. But the time spent in the play area when we were at the clinic had probably tired him out for he looked sleepy.

"All men get jealous, Sam, and Erik's no exception. Don't ever get fooled by that quiet exterior. Deep inside, he could be simmering and you won't even know it," Olivia said as she started the car and eased out of the parking spot. She drove a Mercedes SUV and I had to admit, with its heated leather seats and generous interior, it was a very luxurious ride. It also fit her personality just like Erik's Land Rover fit his.

My little Toyota was pitiful compared to their cars, but I pushed the thought aside, grateful that the thing still ran. That was the thing with manual transmission - they seemed to last a while longer than the standard automatic transmission these days. Or at least, that's what my mechanic always told me whenever I had to bring it in for repairs.

We were making our way to the freeway, hoping we'd miss the afternoon rush when Olivia spoke again.

"Can I say something?" Olivia asked, her tone serious. "It's personal, and it might upset you, but I'm going to just take the risk and say it."

"Sure," I said, the sense of shame creeping through my pores. It was about Anna, I thought. What else could it be?

Olivia weaved the SUV through traffic, making our way to the carpool lane where she was able to ease her foot off the brakes and just coast past the slow-moving traffic to our right. It took her a few minutes to begin talking but by then, I had a feeling it had something to do with what had happened outside the clinic.

"I know who Anna Marlin is, Sam. I know what she is to you," she said.

I didn't say anything. At that moment, I actually couldn't. It was as if I'd long surrendered myself to the fact that sooner or later, Erik or Olivia would find out. If Anna had filled out the required medical forms, whether it was to be part of the harm reduction program or maybe just as a patient, I was sure that she would have had to answer a question about family.

"There's this thing called patient confidentiality and no way would I breach it for something so petty, but all I had to do in this case was do the math and look at the names," Olivia continued. "Anna Marlin had a daughter thirty-two years ago when she was 12 years old. She wrote down her daughter's name as S. Alyssa Marlin under the emergency contact information. Your name, if I remember what Erik told me, is Samantha Alicia Martin."

I said nothing, and my silence prompted Olivia to continue.

"It makes sense, really. All you had to do, unless you did the name change legally, was to add a cross to the 'l' to turn it into a 't' and change the spelling of your middle name. Now if you hadn't panicked today when you saw her, I would never have even considered it as more than just a coincidence."

"So you looked into her file after she came to me," I said accusingly.

"Of course I did, but only because I'd seen it already and needed confirmation. I oversee patient records, Sam, especially when we're dispensing drugs we're approved by the state to give our harm reduction patients," Olivia said. "Now I don't want to know why you did what you did — pretending not to know her — because it's not for me to know that even if you wanted to tell me. But Erik deserves to know the truth about you. Because without the truth, you're basically just lying to us about who you really are."

"Just because I may not tell you or Erik who she is or what she is to me doesn't mean I'm lying about who I am. I have a right to my secrets," I said. "Besides, it doesn't matter."

"It matters when you outright pretend that the woman standing in front of you is not your mother," Olivia said, and I could see her grip on the steering wheel tighten. "She is your mother, isn't she?"

"So what if she is my mother? What does it matter? She never acted like one!" I was trying hard to keep the anger rising in my voice, not wanting to alarm the children.

"She's part of your past, Sam. She's part of you," Olivia said, her voice softening.

"No part of me is anything like that heroin addict back there, Olivia. She sold herself just so she could afford another high even when she had a daughter at home that she swore to the judge she wanted so much to reconnect with. She said that right after I got out of juvie and I really believed her. I really thought I was wanted," I said, the two children in the back seat drifting off to sleep. "She gave me so much hope when she did her little speech to the judge. Convinced everyone, even me - I really thought that my mom finally wanted me back. But do you know why she did it? Why she finally wanted custody of me?"

"No, Sam. I don't," Olivia said softly, glancing at me for a moment before returning her attention to the road in front of her. There was a stalled car in the carpool lane, slowing down our drive.

"Because after my grandmother died - her mother - passed the house to her granddaughter - me - and Anna needed me there to show everyone that we were one big happy family, that we were going to live in that house forever, with the man who would end up raping me while Anna was too high to notice," I was wringing my hands together as I spoke, every muscle in my body taut like harp strings. "I still pay the property taxes on that house to this day, just so she can have a place to stay. I don't have to, but I do, because a part of me knows she can't help herself anymore. The drugs-"

"Sam, I'm sorry," Olivia said as she reached out to touch my arm. "I didn't mean to-"

"Does Erik know?" I asked, nibbling on my nails nervously.

She shook her head. "No, he doesn't know yet."

"Yet? Are you planning on telling him?"

"Like I said earlier, Sam, it's not me you need to tell the truth to. It's my brother, the man who's fallen in love with you and will most likely move mountains if he could, just to make you happy - if he hasn't done it already."

Olivia exhaled, her eyes glued to the road. We'd transitioned the southbound 405 freeway now and were going to arrive at my house in about twenty minutes.

"As far as I know, Anna's trying to turn her life around. That's why she's in the harm reduction program to begin with. Instead of buying more drugs, she put that money into the program because she wants to get better. It's her third and final try, too," Olivia said. "She tried to reconnect with you today, but you denied her."

"I wasn't ready," I said. "Who would have thought that of all the places I'd see her again, it had to be with you and Erik?"

"Well, I know it's none of my business, but I'd rather you saw her now at Erik's clinic than in a hospital or even worse, at a morgue because she OD'd somewhere," Olivia said. "Look, I just had to get this off my chest and I'm sorry if this will cost us our friendship. But if you're afraid that Erik will not want to have anything to do with you because your mother's an addict or a prostitute or whatever, then you don't know my brother at all."

I looked out the window, not knowing what to say. I hadn't expected to be raked over the coals by someone I considered my friend. Even Rosie had more sense to do such a thing, I thought. She'd have kept quiet.

But then, wasn't that exactly what Rosie did about my past? She kept quiet about it just like I did, never raising an objection like Olivia was doing now. Granted, this had to do with me dating her brother.

"Look, Sam, I appreciate you being honest with me. You could easily have denied everything and I wouldn't have pursued it. But you didn't, and I admire you for that," Olivia said as we made a left on Aviation Boulevard heading for the beach. "I wish your life had been different then, that your mother hadn't been the way she was. But there are things we just can't change because they're done, much like I can't do anything about Sebastian leaving me a widow to raise Bella on my own. But it was the choice he made, and my own choice to stay with him even when I knew he could get into an accident every time he got into that car. Yet there are things that we can change still, because they haven't happened yet."

She touched my arm, squeezing it gently. "You shouldn't be ashamed of where you come from. It's what makes you you and it's part of you that make up the whole person my brother loves," she said, sighing.

"And that's all I have to say about the matter," she added. "I won't talk about this anymore unless you want to."

I nodded, squeezing her hand back as she parked the car in my driveway. "Thanks."

As I carried Michael out of the car, I told Olivia she didn't need to wait for me to enter my house before driving away. Bella was fast asleep in the back seat, and I reminded her that she needed to get ready for their week in Ojai.

"Sam," she called out as I unlocked my front door. "Erik will move mountains for you. You do know that, right?"

I nodded, watching Olivia back up the car and drive away. Of course, I knew Erik would move mountains for me, I thought. And from the way he sought me out, gave me a studio of my own and loved me and trusted me even when I didn't deserve it, Erik already had.