Page 36 of Bryson's Treasure

Chapter 14

“How wasyour session with Doctor Reeder?” Lynn asked as she helped Azadeh put on her jacket.

The young girl sighed. “He wants to talk about bad things too much.”

Bryson and the doctor had talked about what Azadeh needed to focus on to help her get rid of the nightmares. She saw him twice a week, and that was her third time going. Bryson wanted to come with her, but Noah had needed help with something, so he’d stayed back.

Lynn was enjoying the girls’ trip to Bozeman with Azadeh. She planned to spend some time shopping with Azadeh so they could buy a gift for Bryson. She wasn’t sure what to get him quite yet but hoped it would pop out when they were at the store.

“I know you don’t like talking about your past, but you haven’t had a nightmare since you started.”

Azadeh scrunched her nose for a second. “You’re right.” She grabbed Lynn’s hand. “Do you think Bryson will send me back if my nightmares continue?”

“To the doctor?”

“No, to my uncle.”

“Nope, you’re stuck with him for the rest of your life.”

“And you?”

Lynn kneeled and wrapped her arms around the young girl. “You’re never going to get rid of me. You’re stuck with me for life too.”

“Good. Can we go to the store now?”

Lynn grabbed the girl’s hand, and they walked out of the doctor’s office. It was near the mall, so it was easy to walk across the street to find a Christmas present for Bryson.

As they entered the mall and walked by the first store, Azadeh let out a squeal. “Can we get one?”

Lynn looked at the puppy in the window and debated buying it for a second, but she knew it wasn’t the right time. They had so many things to figure out before buying another animal. “How about we take a picture and show it to Bryson and let him know you want a puppy?”

“Okay.” Azadeh’s attention quickly changed directions, and she was back to looking at the other stores. Lynn sighed in relief. She didn’t know it would be that easy to distract Azadeh from the puppy. It wouldn’t always be that easy, so she enjoyed it while she could.

Across the mall was a Western store that specialized in leatherwork. She grabbed Azadeh’s hand. They walked across the middle of the mall to the other side. In the front of the store was a nice wallet. Images of Bryson’s ratty old thing came to her mind.

An older gentleman sat behind the counter. “Hello, ladies.”

“Hello. Do you do custom lettering on the wallets?”

“Yes, and we can add messages in the bottom right corner.”

Lynn grabbed one of the wallets off the counter and turned it around in her hand. “How long would it take to add writing?”

He raised his glasses and took the wallet from her hand. “Depends on how much you want.”

“Azadeh, do you want to put a special message in Bryson’s gift?”

Azadeh nodded.

“Okay, what do you want it to say?”

“I love you, Dad.”

Lynn hadn’t heard Azadeh call Bryson dad yet. He would choke up when he saw the wallet, and she couldn’t imagine getting him a better gift than one with a message from Azadeh.

“I can have that ready for you in ten minutes.”

The two of them walked around the store, looking at little figures as they waited for the gentleman to finish the wallet. It didn’t take long before he was calling them over to look at it. Lynn ran her fingers across the special words and couldn’t wait for Christmas Day, when Bryson opened his gift from Azadeh.

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