She hadn’t, but it didn’t surprise her.
“During our last session, we discussed that you and Magnus needed to have a conversation about what happened. Were you able to do that?”
She gave a small shrug. “I told him I’m not broken.”
“And what did he say to that?”
“Nothing.” Her eyes snapped up to the doctor’s face. “Nothing at all. I called him to the carpet, and he wouldn’t talk to me.”
“Did you give him a chance to?”
Ava stared. “Why would you ask that?”
Dr. Briggs arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow behind her rectangle-framed glasses. “Because you haven’t given me a chance to speak this entire time.”
“I’m sorry.” She sulked. “It’s just … it’s like I’ve got so much on my chest, and I need to get it off. I think about what I want to say, how I want to say it, but it never works out as I planned. It comes tumbling out.”
“I’m seeing that,” Dr. Briggs said with a chuckle. “And that’s okay. It’s important to get things off your chest. But if you want to have a conversation with Magnus, you need to give him enough warning so he doesn’t feel ambushed.”
Ava knew she was right. But all Ava’s good intentions seemed to go right out the window when she wanted to talk about something. She’d been that way her entire life. She’d opened up to anyone who would listen. And then she’d married Harrison and spent years unable to speak for herself. Now that she was free again, it was like she was making up for lost time.
“Ava, can I ask you a question?”
She peered up at the doctor and waited.
“Why haven’t you brought up what happened the night Harrison attempted to kill you?”
Ava tried to pretend she wasn’t shocked by Dr. Briggs’s bluntness, but when she asked questions like that, it was hard to. “I don’t know.”
“You’ve danced around it numerous times. You’ve mentioned how that incident brought you and Magnus together, how you were introduced to Trey because of it. But you haven’t yet told me what happened.”
“If you’ve watched the news, you probably know,” Ava said, feeling ornery.
“That’s not what I’m talking about, Ava, and you know it. I don’t need an account of the events, I would like to know how you felt ab—”
“How I felt?” Ava barked. “You want to know how I felt? It was a living hell! Harrison hit me and kicked me and… I saw it on his face, the hatred in his eyes. He wanted me dead. No,” she shouted, “it was more than that. He wanted me to suffer.” She sobbed but kept her eyes locked on the doctor. “I know you want me to tell you, but I can’t. I just … can’t.”
“It’s okay, Ava.” Dr. Briggs’s tone was soothing. “I’m not going to push you.”
Ava tried to slow her pounding heart. She took deep breaths in through her nose, pushed them out through her mouth. When she’d calmed down some, she said, “I’m sorry for that outburst. You don’t deserve that.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” the doctor assured her. “Believe it or not, you’re making progress.”
“Thank you.”
“I would like to see you again on Thursday. If you’re up for it, of course.”
Ava nodded even as she got to her feet.
She didn’t recall anything after that. Gia had driven her to the appointment because Magnus had been busy with one of his training classes. She obviously drove her back, but Ava didn’t remember anything about the drive or how she’d gotten into the house.
She’d been sitting on the couch since then, staring at the blank television. She hadn’t moved in at least two hours, wasn’t even sure she could.
When the back door opened and Magnus came in, Ava wanted to plaster a smile on her face and welcome him home. She couldn’t even do that. She was emotionally wrung out.
Realizing there were tears streaming down her face, she quickly wiped them away, praying he didn’t notice.
Of course,thatdidn’t happen because the second he stepped into the living room, he asked her what was wrong.
