Page 86 of Heal Me

“Still interested implies I was interested to begin with.” I balk.

Luckily for me, another doctor takes a seat beside Dr. Cooper, and the two shake hands. “Dr. Rodgers, this is Charlotte Patel, Dr. Patel’s daughter.”

“Hello, young lady.”

“Hello.”

“Which medical school will you be attending?”

“She turned down Harvard to become a midwife,” Dr. Cooper helpfully answers for me.

“Oh,” he says, looking at me like I have three heads.

Dad walks to our table and everyone stands and shakes hands, and he proudly introduces me.

“I know your daughter well. I had the pleasure of mentoring her,” Dr. Cooper says.

“The pleasure was all mine,” I say with a polite smile, wanting to throw up.

The emcee begins the evening and introduces the first speaker, whose boring talk seems to go on forever. That gives me time to think about what exactly I’m going to say to Rumel when Gabe and I meet with him. It was so much easier to be mad at Sam. The fact that it was my boyfriend’s dad that did the violating makes things tricky.

My strategizing comes to a halt when I feel a trickle between my legs. Of all the times to start my period. Thank goodness the speaker comes to the end of his presentation, and the emcee announces a fifteen minute break. I quickly make my way to the ladies’ room, only to find no tampon dispenser. Hating to do it, as I know he has an arbitration today, I text Gabe.

Me: I’m so sorry to bother you with this, but can you send me a tampon? I’m at the convention center, first floor bathroom. And a pair of panties, please?

Gabe: Check your purse.

Me: Thank you. You really are an angel.

Gabe wins boyfriend of the year. I take care of business and decide to just toss the pair of panties I was wearing in the trash.

Stepping out of the ladies’ room, I practically run headlong into Dr. Cooper, who’s holding two cups of coffee. Handing one to me, he commands, “Walk with me, Ms. Patel.”

A part of me wants to tell him I no longer take orders from narcissistic jerks, but then I realize I don’t have anything better to do to pass the time. I could go back inside the conference room and explain to multiple doctors why I’m not going to med school. Dad’s probably got them all prepped to give me the hard sell. And so that’s why I keep walking.

I follow him until we reach a seating nook and have a seat on a couch. “How are things at the hospital?” I ask as I take a sip of halfway-decent coffee. I’m so spoiled now with Gabe bringing me fresh Italian coffee. Nephilim or not, he’s one hundred percent angel as far as I’m concerned.

“Chaos without me there, I’m sure,” he says as he plugs in his phone to charge.

“Do you ever get tired of your self-aggrandizing?”

“Do you ever get tired of your ivory tower?”

“Please.” I snort. “You know nothing about me.” God, I hope that’s true. If he somehow got ahold of my therapist’s notes, I might have to call Turek.

“Look, I know we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Let’s try again. And let’s dispense with the formalities since you’re no longer at the hospital. You can call me Tom.”

“Alright, Tom,” I say warily. “Charlotte.”

“Charlotte. You are correct, I know nothing about you. Well, I know you’re the survivor of a kidnapping, so you must be resilient. Tell me something else about yourself.”

I have to school my features to hide my absolute shock. Tom’s acting like a decent human being; I didn’t think he had it in him. “I lived here in Boston until I was nine, and then my mom and I moved to the Memphis area to be closer to her family,” I say, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt. “I enjoy cooking and running. I’m excited to take the summer off, but I still plan to get certified in Reiki healing before I begin my midwifery program this fall.”

“What the hell is ‘Reiki’?”

“An energy healing modality.” I can feel energy with my hands, and it’s time I hone my healing gift.

“So Jen wasn’t lying when she said you were into witchcraft.”

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