“No, you keep them. I have… I prefer the online version,” Emil said quickly, then swallowed hard and added, “Thank you.”
“Tell Mom I should be back home in time for dinner, okay?” He put the papers in his desk drawer and dug out his wallet from his back pocket and fished out a twenty. “Here, go get something to eat from the diner.”
It was way too much for a simple meal at the diner, as they both knew, but Emil didn’t say anything and neither did his dad. Emil took the money and thanked him, then left the office before they could get truly awkward.
His dad knew he’d likely been too nervous about the splints to have much appetite all morning. It was past lunchtime now, and the hunger he’d ignored suddenly bowled over him full force.
He said bye to Erin before heading toward what his dad called the diner. Tripod was a two-story building with a café/diner downstairs and a bar/restaurant upstairs. The name didn’t come from the multipurpose thing, but the owner’s love of photography.
Leah and her husband, Stuart, had bought the place when Emil was little, and they’d renovated the building so that the former apartment above the diner could host the rest of their businesses. Around the same time, the old tavern had burned down, and the old guy running it retired, so they got the bar business in town, too. They’d figured that a café would make tourists stop for a drink, and that was now advertised outside as well.
Since it was past lunchtime, the place was empty, except from Emil’s shrink, Evy, whom he should’ve anticipated finding there.
“Hey, Leah, can I get some blueberry pancakes with bacon, and a large latte?” Emil asked when he passed the counter.
“Sure, honey.” She smiled at him and continued to organize the rest of whatever she was organizing behind the counter, knowing that he wasn’t in a rush.
Evy was reading something, an actual book which she preferred over the electronic kind, and twirled one of her dreads around her fingers. She, much like her sister, was pale and blonde, and pretty damn beautiful. Evy’s dreads had multiple colors thrown in with the blonde, though, and she looked like a hippie in her tie-dyed clothes. No one would’ve ever guessed she was a licensed therapist if they didn’t know for sure, and for sure Emil knew, as she’d been his therapist for the last four years.
“Hey, Evy,” he said, stopping by her table.
She startled out of her story and blinked at him, then grinned. “Hey, Emil, wanna sit with me?”
“Only if you don’t mind.”
“Oh no, I want to save the rest of this story for home anyway,” she said and then tucked the book into her large beaded bag.
“Okay then.” Emil slid into the booth with her and placed his own bag next to himself.
“What’s up?” she asked and smiled at him radiantly.
If she hadn’t been his shrink, female, and a decade older, he would’ve been totally blown away by her, and he had no doubt he’d be pining away. She was pansexual, and her current girlfriend, a builder, was in Puerto Rico helping with the rebuilding.
“Well, I managed to go talk to Dad about the whole splint thing,” he said, attempting a casual tone.
Evy’s posture straightened in delighted surprise. “That’s… that’swonderful, Emil!”
He ducked his head and felt a sudden rush of pride. Yeah, it hadn’t been easy.
“Hey, don’t try to diminish the accomplishment. You know we’ve worked on that pretty hard,” she scolded him playfully, but at the same time he knew she was completely serious.
He glanced at her and let her see his expression. “Yeah, thank you.”
“So, what did he say?” she asked and leaned back when Leah came to set down Emil’s drink and topped off her green tea. Emil was pretty sure Evy was the only one in town drinking it, yet it seemed like Leah always had a pot of it made for her.
“Thank you,” he told Leah.
“Just a couple of minutes with the pancakes, honey,” she said to Emil and walked back to the counter again.
“He said to order the two I need the most just to see how they are, and he… he understood, Evy.” He couldn’t help the fact that his voice got whispery at the end.
Evy’s hand twitched, and he knew she wanted to touch his but wouldn’t. Not when she knew it wasn’t easy for him to sit this close to her anyway, not when he could feel her feet by his and the swish of her skirt whenever she moved her legs.
“I’m glad, Emil. I really am,” she said quietly. “But let’s talk about this more on our next session, eh?”
Emil cleared his throat to get rid of the sudden choked-up feeling and sipped his latte, even if it was still a bit too hot. He nodded at her bag where she’d put the book. “What are you reading?”
“It’s a thriller. Some weird psychological shit, actually.”
