Page 3 of Fractured

“She’s my mother.”

Sophia nodded and sat back down. “Makes perfect sense. Until next time.”

Outside, I gulped in more air. This time, instead of the stale, bleach soaked air of the hospital, it was the salt tinged breeze coming in off the ocean. I was drained and cold, and motivated to crack down on all the routines I’d set for myself over the last few years.

Thiswas why I came. I was slowly becoming addicted to this feeling, as if it jumpstarted my mind back onto the correct trajectory.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

“Hey,” I greeted Harper. The one friend I’d managed to hold onto in my adult life. And my psychologist, although to be fair, she was my friend long before she was licensed.

“You went to see your mother again, didn’t you?” Her disappointment was a living thing.

“Yes, I don’t know why you’re using that voice on me. Didn’t you tell me during our last session I should confront my fears?”

“You’re taking what I said out of context. At no time did I mean you should visit the devil who birthed you.” Now she switched to her no-nonsense voice.

I couldn’t help it—her fierce protectiveness forced a reluctant smile. “If I were any other patient of yours, this is exactly what you would have meant.”

“Maybe, but you’re not just any patient. You’re my ride or die bitch. You serve as my sounding board as much as I serve as yours, and I will only ever look out for you. Seeing that woman is not good for you.”

“I disagree, but we can talk about that next time.” I unlocked my car and slid onto the sweltering hot seat as the phone immediately connected to my Bluetooth.

“Putting my work hat aside, I need you to swing by my office for a second. I have a date tonight, and I had a last-minute session scheduled. I won’t have time to let Snuggles out. Can you do it?”

Get the key and go to her condo, she meant. “Sure. I literally just left the hospital, so it will take me about an hour to get there. You can leave the key with the receptionist if you’re in a session.”

“You’re a godsend! Thank you!” Several kiss noises smacked loud over the car speakers.

“You’re welcome.”

She hung up, and I rerouted toward her office.

It was a nice distraction for the short time her call lasted. Now that I was alone inside the car again, my thoughts were so loud, they battered against the walls I was slowly trying to rebuild around myself. Why was today so hard?

What had triggered the out of control feeling that plagued me this afternoon? I had no idea, andthatscared me more than anything. Grabbing my phone, I turned on an audiobook I’d listened to a hundred times. A true crime mystery novel with a narrator so monotone, his voice was actually soothing.

His words lulled me back to my center, and before I knew it, I was pulling into the parking lot of Harper’s plaza. It had a cutesy feel, with about five medical offices. Hers, a sonographer, a pediatrician, then two I really had no idea what they were, other than they had quite a few letters after their names.

Within feet of opening the door, a beautiful, elegant man stepped out. For a moment, I blanked, forgetting what I was doing and just gawking at this tall man with dark, swept back hair and a week’s worth of stubble. He was well-dressed in an expensive cardigan over a navy-blue shirt and khaki slacks, like something I’d expect from a college professor or a new age philosopher.

“Excuse me,” he said in a voice much too smooth to belong to any human man as he tried to go around me.

Only, I went the same direction. So I stepped the other way, and he followed. We did it one more time before we both burst out laughing. Placing warm hands on my shoulders, he moved me to one side while he stepped to the other.

“There.” He smirked, still holding onto me.

“Thanks,” I breathed.

“Are you a fellow client of Harper’s?” His thumbs started to rub barely there circles into the skin right beneath my collarbone. Did he realize he was doing it?

That he was touching a stranger so intimately?

“I am.”

“It’s always nice to meet a fellow nutcase. What’s your phobia?” He stepped back, and the loss of his touch was so profound, I almost stepped forward with him.

Then what he had said registered. “Huh?”

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