Part One Chapter One "I've been having those dreams again." Nelly straightened in her chair and gave her what Mikki liked to think of as her Clinically Interested Look. "Would you like to tell me about them?" she asked. Mikki shifted her eyes from her friend. Would she like to tell her? She uncrossed and then crossed her long legs, ran her hand nervously through her hair and tried to settle into the wingback chair. "Before I answer that question, I want you to answer one of mine first." "Fair enough," Nelly said. "If I tell you about my dreams, how will you be listening? As my friend or as my shrink?" The psychiatrist laughed. "Please, Mikki! We're at a coffee shop, not my office. You're definitely not paying me a hundred and twenty dollars an hour to sit here with you. And let's not forget" - she leaned forward and exaggerated a whisper - "you've been my friend for years, but you've never been my patient." "True, but that hasn't been because of my lack of issues." "Oh, definitely," Nelly said with purposeful sarcasm. "So you gonna tell me, or do I have to use my secret shrink tricks on you to get you to divulge?" "Anything but that!" Mikki raised her hands as if to fend off an attack. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, they're the same as the others." Noting Nelly's knowing look coupled