Page 89 of Drawing Home
“Emma, sit for a minute.” Kyle reached for her hand and guided her to the edge of the bed next to him. They sat inches apart, the space between vibrating with a strange energy, a tension she realized had nothing to do with her distress over the custody fight.
“You’ll feel better after you talk to the lawyer,” Kyle said. “I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
“Why?”
“I think you know why.”
His eyes focused on her with an intensity that made her look away. She could get lost in that blue. He squeezed her hand gently.
“Things are just so complicated right now,” she said. “I’m not sure it’s the best time to—”
“I get it,” he said, nodding.
“Friends?” she said. He hugged her, and she thought maybe she was making a mistake. Here it was, the thing she’d longed for. And she was squashing it. She wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe she was saving herself for the battle ahead.
Nonsupervision. Unstable home environment.
Or maybe she was punishing herself.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Dr. Wang smiled at Penny. “Well, I’m glad you’re drawing again. It’s important to have an outlet. But your mother told me about the pills. My concern isn’t just that you’re using dangerous drugs recreationally but also that perhaps you are self-medicating in an attempt to control your ruminations.”
Her mother looked at her expectantly from across the room. Penny swallowed hard.
“I mean, yeah, when I took that stuff, it helped keep my thoughts from getting caught in loops. But I know that was a really bad thing to do and I’m done with that.” She turned to her mother. “Really. I swear.”
Dr. Wang leaned back in her chair and adjusted the scarf around her neck. “I want to work on the way you view things, Penny. Think of your negative perceptions as glasses you can take off if you choose to see things a different way. As an exercise to start retraining your thinking, I want you to create a positivity board in your bedroom. Every day, I want you to post three good things that happened. It could be a compliment someone gave you or something you accomplished…”
A compliment someone gave her? Did her therapist think that actually happened? Dr. Wang probably walked down the street and got compliments every day, so, yeah.
“And Mom,” Dr. Wang said to Emma, “when Penny says something negative, I want you to challenge it with something positive.”
Penny waited for her mom to respond, but she looked completely zoned out.WTF?“Mom?” Penny said.
Emma seemed startled, like she’d forgotten she was in the room with them. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What was that?”
“I was just saying that when Penny veers to the negative, I need you to be the counterpoint. To show her that there is always a positive side.”
And then, unbelievably, her mother burst into tears.
The law office of Andrew Port was located in a shingled two-story building on tree-lined Noyac Road. Emma barely made it to the appointment on time after the debacle at Dr. Wang’s. How could she have lost control like that in the middle of Penny’s therapy session? And it just added another ten minutes to the session, as the doctor had to address Emma’s outburst and bring things back into calm focus on Penny.
Kyle had been waiting for her in the building’s narrow entrance hall.
A paralegal sat them in a sunlit conference room, offered them coffee, and then asked Emma for information she knew she’d already given the lawyer over the phone. She patiently repeated the information, understanding this was just the beginning of what would be a long and stressful process.
By the time Andrew Port joined Emma and Kyle, Emma’s stomach was in knots. She knew she wasn’t thinking clearly, and she was thankful Kyle had followed through on his offer to come along with her.
“Ms. Mapson. A pleasure to meet you,” Andrew Port said.
“Please, call me Emma. And this is my friend Kyle Dunlap.”
Andrew Port was younger than she’d expected, with hair that was just starting to go gray at the temples. He was tan and wore a navy blue blazer over a white shirt and dark jeans.
