I do, but between you and me, she’s a whiner.
I laughed and tucked my phone away. I had seen Elijah’s car already in the parking lot when I’d pulled in, but he wasn’t in it. I was five minutes early, so I was surprised he had already gone inside. When I went in, he wasn’t in the waiting room either. And like every session so far, neither was anyone else. No receptionist, no other patients. It was nice of Dr. Franklin to stay late for us.
I wondered if Elijah was using the bathroom when I heard voices and laughter from down the hall, in Dr. Franklin’s office.
“Am I late?” I asked at the open door.
Dr. Franklin and Elijah were standing shoulder to shoulder, looking at a framed picture on her desk. She jumped at my words, putting space between herself and Elijah.
He smiled at me, then casually walked to my side. I could tell he was about to brush a hand down my arm when he stopped himself. Probably remembering me telling him not to lie with his body in front of Dr. Franklin. “You’re not late. You’re perfectly on time. I was early.”
This was the session I needed to drop more obvious hints so Dr. Franklin could guess we weren’t in a relationship. Maybe Elijah had unwittingly started the ball rolling by showing up early to flirt with the therapist.
“Have a seat,” she said. “Let’s get started.”
We settled into the love seat and, seriously, she needed to invest in a bigger couch. This thing was too small for a couple. Our thighs and sides were smashed against each other once again. This was probably another one of her bonding exercises. Elijah moved his arm to the back of the couch, which freed up some space but felt more intimate.
Dr. Franklin shut the door, then assumed her place in the chair with her notebook. I looked at the closed door.
“How are you both? This week go well? Were you able to complete your homework?”
“Yep,” I said, turning my attention back to her.
I could feel Elijah’s eyes on me as if he wondered why I hadn’t tattled on him. I wasn’t sure either. Only that I worried if I talked about it that the genuine hurt I’d felt over him not showing up (especially after learning that it was for some made-up reason) would be impossible to hide. And these sessions weren’t about genuine feelings.
“And how was it?” she asked.
“I didn’t think I’d like boxing, but I did. It was a nice stress reliever.”
“How did it make you feel to have her there?” she asked Elijah.
“I haven’t taught someone since… it’s been a while… and she was a good person to break myself back in with. She made it fun.”
Did he just call me fun? “You haven’t taught someone since when?” I asked, because I was trying to drop hints and because I really wanted to know.
He couldn’t say something like,You know this, Sutton, because I did not, in fact, know this. But I could see his mind working. Hopefully Dr. Franklin could as well.
“Since I used to box,” he said.
My eyes went wide. Of course, I knew he worked at the boxing gym, but I didn’t know he used to actually box. He just had the one razor-thin scar through his brow, but other than that, his face did not look like it had been involved in any serious fights. “You’re too pretty.”
He let out a single laugh. “That’s what you tell me.”
“You don’t want him to box?” Dr. Franklin asked me, andElijah gave her a look like that was the stupidest question she could’ve asked. But she was probably genuinely curious as well.
“I want him to do whatever he wants to do,” I said, which was true.
“And what is it that you want to do?” she asked him. Again, he gave her that look.
“I run a boxing gym,” he said, which didn’t really answer her question.
“And that’s what you want to do?” she said carefully.
The room seemed charged with tense energy. I wasn’t sure what to do to defuse it. Wasn’t that her job to figure out? My hand, seemingly on its own, moved to pat his chest. “I punched him in the face by accident during my visit. I don’t think I’m welcome back at the gym,” I teased.
“You are,” he said quickly. “She is. She can come back whenever she wants.”
How did this woman not know we weren’t in a relationship after statements like that?
