Page 10 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

“Jealous, maybe?”

I scoff. “Jealous?! No.”

Jordan laughs. “Okay, just asking. I know you’ve mentioned he’s handsome before and, well, wanted to make sure we weren’t dealing with a crush situation.”

I stare at Jordan. A crush? On Hunter Ricks?!!! That might as well be a death wish. “That would never happen.”

“Okay, I get it. He’s not a nice guy.”

“No, it’s not that he’s not a nice guy. He’s at the very least a good dad. You know, a single father.”

“That takes a lot of work.”

I nod. “I know that. Of course I know that.” I remember how frazzled Dad was when Mom left. Being eaten alive by five girls. At least he had Dana, but still. “He’s a fine guy. Just not to me.”

“Has he been outwardly rude to you?”

Rude to me? “No, I guess not.”

“But…”

“There’s an unspoken rivalry.”

Jordan chuckles and writes something down, “Oh, is there?”

“What are you writing down?”

“Nothing.”

“You just wrote something down.”

“Yeah, that’s what I do, Amy. I take notes on you,” Jordan says.

I twist my lips to the side. “I hate when you do that.”

“You wouldn’t like to hear what I wrote down.”

My eyes bug out and I lean forward. “Why are you telling me that?! Now you’re just making me want to know what the heck you wrote down!”

Jordan smiles. “Look, these notes are just for me. They’re not facts. They’re not things I believe. They’re just thoughts that come up…as they come up. So, if you really want to hear it, you can’t let it get in your head.”

“This seems like bad practice from a therapist,” I say with narrowed eyes.

“Well, with other clients, maybe. But we’ve known each other six years. There’s a little bit more leeway.”

I think very hard if I want to know what she’s written down. Can I bear walking out of this meeting and not knowing the observation Jordan is making about me on the privacy of her paper? “Fine. Tell me.”

Jordan pauses for a considerably long time.

“Jordan!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll come out with it. I’m wondering if this anger is misplaced. Maybe it’s covering up for a different feeling.”

I look at her incredulously. “What kind of feeling?”

“I don’t know. Something more to do with liking Hunter, maybe?”

The way she says “liking” sounds suspiciously like the way we used to say “like-like” on the playground when someone had a crush. “You don’t mean to say you think I have feelings for that man, do you?”

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