Page 21 of Gunner

“I didn’t realize you were a therapist.”

I eyed my new friend. She wouldn’t look at me, and I reached over and touched her knee. “Is that a problem?”

When she finally lifted her gaze to mine, she had a smile that spread over her whole face, yet her eyes were hollow.

“Not at all. It’s cool you like to help people. I do have to go, though. I have an early client.”

“Ok, thanks so much for coming here. Let me get you some money.”

“No, it’s on me. Friends and family discount.”

This time her smile was complete.

I gave her a hug and walked her to the door. Standing in the doorway until her car pulled away, I realized my new friend had secrets.

I hoped my occupation didn’t scare her away. I tried really hard not to ‘shrink’ my friends, but there was a fine line between therapist and friend.

One I didn’t have a lot of practice walking.

Chapter Six

Gunner

“Hey, Indie?”

“Yea, boss?” She looked up at me, completely unaware of what I was about to confront her with.

“Miss Walker reschedule her appointment?”

“Nope, she decided to hold off for a while.”

“You charge the cancellation fee?”

“Um, no.” Indie looked down at the computer in front of her.

“Why not? We have those policies for a reason, so clients won’t waste our time and screw us over.”

“She had something out of her control come up. It’s my fee and my discretion to waive it. Or did I understand the contract wrong?”

She still hadn’t looked back up at me. She didn’t know I had been watching Haizley’s house and saw her take her gear with her when she showed up there the other night.

“No, it is your choice. Just don’t want you wasting your time on clients that fuck off after making an appointment.”

“It’s my time to waste. As long as you get what the shop collects, you don’t need to worry about what I’m collecting.” She stood up from the desk and grabbed her coat. “I’m going to lunch.”

“Where are you going?”

She stopped at the door and turned back to glare at me.

“Why? You’ve never asked me where I was going before.”

She was right. If I wasn’t careful, I’d give myself away.

“Thought maybe you could grab something for me and bring it back.”

“I’m going home. But if you want me to stop—”

“No, go ahead. I’ll have a prospect drop something off.” I waved her out the door and watched her walk up the street. I stood just out of sight as she turned to look back at the shop and then walked in the opposite direction to where she was staying.

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