Page 8 of The Soul Never Forgets

Therapists aren’t inclined to discuss their personal lives, but I can’t resist trying to find out some little tidbit of information about him. “Do you own a historical home?”

“No, but I would love to one day.”

“I know people on the inside. I can give you a heads-up when I hear about a good one going on the market. I would just need you to tell me the specifics of what you’re looking for. Size. Location. Age. Style.”

“That would be great. We’ll revisit that conversation outside of your session. I wouldn’t want to use your session time talking about me.”

Actually, I would love to use my session time talking about him. I want to know everything about Dr. Jude Dawson Wescott.

“Tell me about your friends.”

“Teagan and Riley have been my best friends since middle school. We did everything together up until a year ago. Both of them became involved in relationships, so I don’t see them as often as I used to.” And that’s okay now. I’ve just found something new to do with my time.

“Would you consider yourself close to Teagan and Riley?”

“Both of them would say yes if they were asked, but the truth is that they don’t know the real me. I distance myself and my emotions from them. I pretend that my life is perfect because I’m afraid of what they’ll say or do if they discover who I really am.”

He’s my soul mate. He might as well know the truth.

“Have your friends ever given you a reason to not trust them?”

“They’ve never hurt or betrayed me in any way. But Riley, the one who dates Landon, has issues with being judgmental. I guess that I’m most worried about her reaction.” Teagan is a sweetheart. She goes overboard to make others happy, sometimes to the point of making herself unhappy. I know I’d have her full support.

“Have you ever considered that it’s unfair to them and yourself to not allow your best friends to know the true you?”

I’ve always wished for someone I could tell all my secrets to. And now I have that. We’re just not quite there yet.

“There are reasons I have trust issues. I’m sure it’s something we’ll get into in future sessions.”

“I’m eager to hear more about that. Tell me about your parents.”

“My father was a wonderful man, but he passed away when I was thirteen. My mother and I have had a…difficultrelationship.” Difficult is too mild an adjective to describe the dynamics between us.

“What makes your relationship with your mother difficult?”

That’s a loaded question. “There’s not enough time in this session to tell you everything that makes it difficult.”

“All right. We’ll save that question for another session. Do you have siblings?”

“I was adopted when I was a newborn. My parents couldn’t have children… or so they believed. I have one brother who is their biological child. Chase is four years younger than I am.”

“Do you have a close relationship with him?”

“No. Chase is a jerk. My mother is the only person who is able to tolerate him for more than a few minutes.” They’re so much alike, he and my mother. They deserve each other.

“Do you have a relationship with your birth parents?”

“No. I was severely premature when I was born. Someone, I can only presume that it was my birth mother, put me inside a trash bag and left me for dead in a dumpster behind a Kmart in Metairie.”

He stops taking notes and looks up at me. “That was you?”

“That was me.” I was quite the little celebrity around these parts twenty-nine years ago.

“I’ve heard people talk about you, but I don’t recall the entire story of how you were saved.”

“A dumpster diver found me and called for help. The woman reported to 911 that my skin was cold and gray. ‘Ashy like a dead person’ is how she described it. I wasn’t moving or crying. By all accounts, I was dead. But the woman was a mother of four and was determined that I would survive if she had anything to do with it. She placed me inside her shirt against her skin and kept me warm until the ambulance arrived.”

“That’s an amazing story of survival.”

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