Page 36 of Serenity

ChapterFifteen

Dillon

We both must’ve been exhaustedbecause we slept for almost another twelve hours straight. When I woke up the next morning, I had a couple of minutes of peace before the memories of my conversation with my parentshitme.

“Shit,” Igroaned.

Faith rolled over and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry,honey.”

“It’s not yourfault.”

“Oryours.”

“But it feels like it is. I already felt like shit because I wasn’t the one behind the wheel when we got into the accident. How am I going to move past the guilt of knowing that Declan died in order for metolive?”

“I don’t have all the answers. Or any of ‘em really,” she sighed. “But I think I know someone whocanhelp.”

“Youdo?”

“Yeah. Hold on a second.” She rolled out of bed, padded across the floor to where her purse was on top of the dresser, and dug through it. When she climbed back onto the mattress, she handed me a cream-coloredbusinesscard.

“What’s this?” I asked, flipping it over. “Atherapist?”

“Yeah, she’s the best one Sarah had me talk to. I’ve seen a few others over the years, but I never really opened up to any of them. This one was different though. Or maybe it was just me who was different since it was after the transplant. Either way, she helped me move past some of the shit from my childhood, and I thought maybe she could helpyoutoo.”

“My parents wanted me to talk to someone after the accident. I went in a few times, but the guy didn’t exactly inspire confidence. He seemed like a pompous douche to me.” I went over what my parents had told me about their decision to withhold the truth from me back then. “I guess he might’ve been the one to suggest to them that I wasn’t able to handle what’d really happened to Declan. So my instincts might’ve been right when it cametohim.”

“Will you give her a chance? For me? I can promise she’s not adouche.”

“I already figured that out since you’d never open up to someone who didn’t earn your trust.” I glanced down at the card again. “I guess if there was ever going to be a time when I’d need therapy, this wouldbeit.”

“Can I call and make you an appointment? If I explain the situation, I can probably get you an appointment for after hours today since I’m a formerpatient.”

“Will it be too weird for me to use your ex-therapist?”

“Actually,” she drawled. “I was kind of hoping we could bothseeher.”

“Shit, baby. I’m sorry. Ihadn’teven—”

“Stop.” She pressed her fingers against my lips. “What I’m feeling right now pales in comparison to what you’re goingthrough.”

I nipped at her fingers. “Doesn’t matter. Even at my lowest, I’m always going to want to take careofyou.”

“And that’s one of the things I love most about you. But you better get used to it going both ways because this relationship is a two-waystreet,babe.”

I leaned in closer and murmured against her lips, “That’s mytoughgirl.”

“Damnstraight.”

“Yeah. Go ahead, baby. Schedule us appointments with thetherapist.”

I was shocked, and a little bit impressed, when she was able to get us in at five o’clock that night. We spent the day doing a whole lot of nothing. My dad had let me know in a text message that I shouldn’t worry about missing work because he’d arranged for me to be out on a “special project” when I sent him the text last week. He hadn’t even known what was going on with me at that point other than that Faith and I had an argument, but he’d still covered for me because that’s just how my dad was. He did whatever had to be done to make sure I was protected. He always had, and that was the ironic part of this whole thing since my parents’ desire to protect me was the reason why they’d decided not to tell me the truth fiveyearsago.

“You okay with this?” Faith asked, pressing her hand against my leg to get it to stop jiggling. We were on the couch in the therapist’s waiting room, and I was nervousasfuck.

“Yeah.”

“You sure? Because we can bounce and figure something else out if you don’t want to talk to her. Or I can leave if you’d prefer it wasjustyou.”

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