Page 240 of The Last Good Man

“Okay. All right. I need to go now. I’m the only one in the firm now,” I say before we end the call.

I gather my things, shrug my black blazer on, and run my hand down my white dress when my phone rings.

The name splashed across makes my eyebrows slide up in disbelief. I drop my purse and take the call, swiveling to face the view.

“Aretha?”

Only a second passes.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” she says, her voice a mix of jealousy, barely concealed anger, and the satisfaction that she’s got it right.

“Him?”

“You and Jax London stopped seeing me at the same time. He is the man you ran into in Connecticut. And it’s not Jack. It has never been Jack.”

She is so direct I have no choice but to admit it, yet I’m not ready toput it into words.

My silence is more than telling, though.

“So he is Mr. Right,” she says.

“There’s nothing like a judgmental therapist,” I retort with a contrived smile. “And, um… Is there a problem if he is?”

She sighs.

“No. The problem is, you thought I had a crush onhim.”

“Since you put it so bluntly… Yes. I did think that.”

I bite my lip, not to add that he said the same thing.

“You were wrong. I like Jax as a client and a man, but I’m involved with someone else.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I sure do.”

Not really.

“He’s not my type,” she goes on. “Besides, he’s much younger than me.”

I bite my lip again.

That’s a direct allusion to the fact that he is younger than metoo.

I’m not getting into that with her, especially now that I see a side of hers I never thought I’d see. My therapist is jealous and petty while trying hard not to be.

I remain silent, which aggravates her even more, but she’s too seasoned not to know how to turn things around.

“I’m happy for you,” she says genuinely, although I can’t trust the woman now. “You should’ve talked to me. No need to hide these things from me.”

Yeah, talk to her… Uh-huh.And then get something like…‘He’stoo young for you. Watch out. He might break your heart.’

I’d already said that to myself, and it took me forever not to be judgmental with him.

All the things I needed to unlearn.

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