I don’t want to be seen!It was too much. Much too much. Victoria bent down and grabbed her belongings, ignoring how the rapid movements made her feel weak and dizzy. “I’m leaving.”
“We’ll need to schedule another appointment,” Anna said, and that made Victoria shake her head again, this time violently enough to loosen her chignon.
“Absolutely not.” Without another word, Victoria all but ran out of the Staff Wellness clinic, the past nipping at her heels like the hounds of hell.
4
ANNA
Anna dropped back down into her chair as Victoria fled, a gust of surprised air puffing out of her mouth as her butt hit the cushion. “Well,” she said to nobody, “that worked out far better than I expected it to.”
Bending down, she reached under the dust flap of the chair to pull out a compact little vacuum cleaner that she used to suck up all the flakes and crumbs she’d gotten all over herself, her chair, and the floor. Normally she was quite a tidy croissant eater, but she’d suspected that affecting the table manners of a toddler might set Dr. Victoria Ellis off-balance enough to have a reaction, any reaction, to everything Anna said. And boy, had she ever had a reaction.
She stood up and finished vacuuming her chair cushion before putting the little vacuum away and sitting back down with her pen and Victoria’s file, narrating in a mumble as she wrote. “Patient continues to exhibit strong denial signs of her breakdown. Did not acknowledge my theory of a past inciting event. Departed session in haste after…” Anna checked her phone. “Thirty minutes.”
Well, thirty minutes and a clear reaction was better than fifteen minutes and a lot of insults. Anna would take it.
She finished writing down her impressions of the session and then got up to lock Victoria’s folder away in her mahogany filing cabinet. Victoria would be back, she knew. She would not have a choice. But Anna thought she would give her a couple days before sending a reminder to book an appointment. It had been a rough two sessions already, even if they hadn’t managed yet to get through a full hour. Time and space to breathe wouldn’t hurt Victoria one bit at this point. They had a long journey ahead; rest breaks would be important.
With Victoria’s hasty departure, there was now another fifty minutes before her next appointment arrived. Anna decided to wander down to the cafeteria to get herself something a little more substantial than an admittedly delicious croissant.
“Just the person I wanted to see,” came the voice of Elaine Martin from behind just as Anna had her hand on the cafeteria door. “Can I join you for breakfast?”
“I was just getting something to take back to my office.” Anna replied slowly, biting her lip. HIPAA prevented her from continuing to inform Elaine too explicitly about her sessions with Victoria, but she needed more guidance for getting in under that prickly porcelain shell.
“We can eat there together.” It was clear that Elaine would not be taking no for an answer. Anna could only nod and smile as they gathered a small breakfast, talking about nothing consequential—the LA weather, Elaine’s vacation plan to visit Dublin next spring, the next Donna Tartt novel and when it might come out. It was mindless chatter all the way back to her office.
Once the door was shut behind them and they were seated with their egg and potato bowls, Elaine leaped right to thepoint. “I know you can’t tell me any specifics about Victoria’s appointments. I respect that.”
“Okay,” Anna replied, keeping her guard up.
“I also know that Victoria just came roaring up to the Cardio wing twenty minutes ago and locked herself in her office. I think she might have thrown something breakable at her door, as well; I certainly heard something shatter. I hope it wasn’t the beautiful French porcelain vase on her bookshelf, I rather liked that one.” Elaine took a sip of her cafeteria coffee and frowned at the cardboard cup.
“I think you forgot to put sugar in that,” Anna said.
“So I did.” Elaine got up and walked over to the tea table in the corner and remedied the situation. “I don’t need to know what happened in here, Dr. Monroe. But I do need you to continue it.”
Anna hesitated before replying. Would continued needling really be the right path? “I don’t want to distress her too much. I have to walk a fine line.”
“You’ve lit the fuse. Oh, not that I want to tell you how to do your job. I’m not qualified.” Elaine sat back down and tasted her coffee, this time smiling. “Better. Where was I?”
“Not qualified,” Anna reminded her gently.
“No. I am not qualified to tell you how to counsel my surgeon. But I will tell you, Victoria does not react. She does not get rattled. You rattled her.”
“She was already rattled. That’s why you sent her to me.”
Elaine nodded. “Rattled, but not reactive. You’re getting to her. Whatever she’s holding in is eating Victoria alive, Dr. Monroe. Anyone can see that except for her. I need that boil lanced, that grenade thrown, that dynamite to explode.” She poked at her breakfast bowl. “More importantly, I think she needs that to happen. I did have a psychology minorin undergrad. I know that one cannot repress trauma forever without repercussions.”
Anna thought about her next words very carefully. “And if that dynamite explodes and the damage is irreparable?” She didn’t think that would be the case, but she wanted Elaine to be prepared for any and all contingencies. “You said you wanted me to head off disaster, to prevent a breakdown. What if this isn’t fixable? If you lose a surgeon who cannot be cleared to work?”
Elaine took a deep breath. “Oakridge would be poorer to lose her skills. But above all else, Victoria needs help. I would rather she get it and return to the world of the living, whole and happy, than stuck in whatever hell she’s in now.”
“That’s admirable,” Anna remarked, her voice low.
“That’s human, I hope.” Elaine’s eyes were gentle with compassion in her soft, lightly lined face.
They ate in companionable silence for a moment or two longer before Anna spoke up again. “I want to give her some breathing room before her next appointment. Two, maybe three days.”
