she said.He looked up with a start. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “I’m all done here.”“I know she has not been kind to you,” Natasha said, stepping into the room and leaning against the doorjamb.“Tatiana’s great.”“I mean Gaia. I am afraid I heard your conversation, and I know she is not being easy to get along with.”“Oh. That’s Gaia, I guess,” he said. “It’s no big deal. We were friends for a long time; that’s the only thing that’s a drag about it.”“Well, I want you to know that I think you are a very nice boy, and if she cannot see that, then you are better off with someone else.”Ed felt his face flush with confusion. This was a speech he might expect from his own mom—if his mom was the mom from Seventh Heaven—but from Gaia’s own almost stepmother? It seemed weird. Then again, Gaia was weird, too. Maybe Natasha just wanted her daughter to be dating him, the Nice Guy. That was a nauseating thought.“Well, thanks,” he said.“I am glad you and Tatiana are friends,”
