I considered everything as I walked back to my car. He was warning me off, as everyone else was also doing. But it only made me want to push harder. Dig deeper for the truth.
I played with the idea of going home instead of back to the office. The look on Kory’s face as she watched Minthe and I had etched itself my brain. I didn’t want to see it again in person.”
But we had a session this evening, and I didn’t want to let her down, like everyone else seemed to.
I drove back, gathered my papers, and sat behind my steering wheel, until I shifted and pressed my forehead to the top and let the hard bite of the leather instill some peace. But as long as Kory was in my life, I doubted I’d get it. Everything about her screamed chaos. Sexy, smart, beautiful fucking chaos.
I wouldn’t know peace, but I’d know her. Was the risk worth it?
I pulled my face from the wheel and climbed out with all my notes and records. Kory was a puzzle waiting, praying, hoping to be solved. I hoped to be a strong enough man to unravel her.
When I made it to my office, a file sat in the center of my desk. I slapped my stuff in the chair and flipped open the grocery sack brown file. I expected it to be the records Minthe hunted down, but instead, I found a faxed record from Zeus. It contained his own personal notes about Kory’s care. On the first page was a doodle of a hand flipping the bird.
I’d send him a bottle of whiskey, and he would forget all about today. I sunk into the chair and flipped through the paperwork. It held the usual intakes and demographics, but his notes were what I was truly interested in. I dragged a notepad toward me and took my own notes, taking dates, times, her moods etc. Anything that could help me glean who I dealt with now. I read every page and then sat back puzzled.
For one month, Z had been very much like me, seeking answers and finding none. He’d conducted the usual sessions and even tested a few meds. Then at the end of the month, his notes stopped. Going forward they all said unchanged over and over. What switched him from dedication to complacency?
I reviewed the dates, but gained little insight. I pulled up the records on employment at the hospital. He worked six months here and then opened a very lucrative private practice.
Six months and then he moved on. I went back to the records and identified a couple other similar situations. A doctor would start the job, stay for six months, and then suddenly a new name on the notes and files. As if this job was merely the stepping stone to bigger and better things.
My chest squeezed tight like it had been stuffed with steel wool. As if Kory was a stepping stone to bigger things.
No wonder she hated doctors so much. Every single one had let her down, used her, and moved on to something better. How could I get her to trust me after that?
I checked my watch. She’d be here any second, all doe eyes and messy hair. My heart took up an unsteady beat. As if I were the patient and she the professional.
Between waiting and worrying, she arrived, standing in the doorway, hand poised to knock.
I swallowed against a wave of nausea as I studied her. The secrets pulling me, body and soul, to the floor. At her feet, maybe they would lessen, give me room to breathe. “Come in,” I choked.
She took a step over the threshold, then another.
I waved at the chair. “Please. We have a lot to talk about.”
Starting with how I could continue looking at her as a patient when she should be a free woman.
Chapter Seven
Kory
Something changed. In the few hours since I caught him cozying up to Nurse Hottie right here. At the time, I’d resolved not to care. He wasn’t mine, and I had no right to feel anything. But I had. Watching him touch her, seeing that soft sensual look directed at another woman punched me in the gut.
Sitting behind his desk now, though, he was a different man. His features appeared softer, something like compassion outlined his lips and eyes. Not that he didn’t care before, but now it bordered on pity, and I warred with being upset about it and wanting to wipe the look from his eyes.
I finally sank into the chair across from his desk.
He came around to take the one right next to it. “Do you need anything? Are you feeling okay today?”
His white shirt was wrinkled, his blue checkered tie askew, even his hair stood up and mussed in an adorable way. I tried to keep the confusion out of my response. “I’m fine. Do you need anything?”
Puzzlement cleared to professional courtesy. “No, I’m just checking on you. Making sure you have everything you need.”
“If you’re offering, I wouldn’t say no to a glass of whiskey. On the rocks, of course.”
He froze for a heartbeat and then smiled. “You’re joking.”
“Am I?”
