Page 27 of Taming a Menace
“I’m grateful for you. I swear I am. So what’s next?”
“Usually we start with preliminary questions like what brings you to therapy.”
“You already know what brought me here. My parole officer said that I had to come if I didn’t want to go back to prison. That’s some motivation for your ass.”
“There must be a reason that he felt like you could benefit from therapy,” I suggested.
“I’m sure there was.” He shrugged as he sat back.
“Care to elaborate?”
“Not really.”
“In order for this to work you have to cooperate.”
“They told me I had to come. They didn’t say I had to talk to y’all.”
“If you want to benefit from these sessions, you’re going to have to talk,” I clarified.
“OK.” He nodded.
“So?”
“So what?” he asked.
“Are you going to talk?”
“I don’t want to talk about why that cornball thought I would benefit from therapy. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t think at all. He just does whatever somebody else tells him to do. I don’t respect that, so I don’t want to talk about it,” he explained.
“Well what would you like to talk about?” I asked him.
The way both corners of his mouth lifted was an indication that I would regret asking that question. The intrigue that stirred in my belly made me curious about his answer anyway.
“Iyla,” he responded.
“That’s not what we’re here for, Mr. Glover. I already told you that in order for me to keep this session, you have to behave yourself.”
“Am I not behaving?” he asked.
“I’m making sure you stay on the right track.”
“Do you always do what you’re supposed to do?” he challenged.
“I think you already know the answer to that question.”
He shrugged. “Actually I don’t.”
“Seeing how I had a one-night stand with a man whose full name I didn’t know, I would think the answer would be no.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. There’s nothing wrong with responding to natural human instincts. I hope you don’t think I think any less of you.”
“That’s neither here nor there. Let’s discuss what challenges you’ve been facing.”
“Well aside from having to be in therapy so I don’t go back to prison, I met an amazing, beautiful woman who laughed at my corny jokes and loved my food. For some reason she didn’t think I was worth getting to know. I’ve been struggling with that for a couple of years. It made me really sad actually.”
“Are you going to take this serious, or should I ask you to leave again?”
“I’m being serious. Why didn’t you want to give me your number?” he asked.
