Cover by Leave Me Love

Author:Leave Me Love
Language: eng
Format: epub

***

We arrived at Lauren's office just in

time. Cavin waited outside while she offered

me tea and my choice of seats in her com-

fortable office. I chose a chair, unwilling to

lie down as I unloaded all my problems to a

stranger. She took the chair across from me

as I looked around her office. "It's nice here.

I like the artwork on the wall." She had an eclectic selection of classic prints from the

impressionist and expressionist eras.

"Thank you. I try to make it a comfort-

able place for my patients."

"Professor Cavin said you knew my

mother, Alice Travis?"

She nodded and smiled, her green eyes

bright and happy, contrasting dramatically

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with her dark hair and clear skin. "I did. She was a remarkable woman."

I shifted in my seat. "I went to a coun-

selor once, when I was a teenager. After the

murders. I didn't much like it, though, and

my foster parents stopped making me go. So

I'm not sure what we're supposed to do

here."

"There's no 'supposed to' here. We just

talk and I see if I can help you handle some

of the incredible difficulties you've been

faced with lately."

"So, where do we begin?" I asked, picking invisible lint off my jeans.

"Why don't you tell me how you've been

feeling since you were attacked and

kidnapped?"

She clicked on a recorder and my throat

went dry. I sipped on the tea she'd given me

and began to tell her about the headaches,

the anxiety attacks, the colors and sounds

and overwhelming anger I'd been feeling.

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She nodded, making appropriately com-

forting sounds as I spoke, her voice and de-

meanor professional and calm. At one point,

she got out a bottle of perfume and sprayed it

in the air. The sweet smell ticked my nose. I

began to relax and share more, until I'd told

her everything.

"It sounds to me," she said, "like you're suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which isn't uncommon after what

you've gone through. That, combined with

what's just happened with your best friend,

can be very hard to handle. I know your doc-

tor has you on medication for your head in-

jury, but I'd like to prescribe an anti-anxiety medication as well, to be taken only as

needed when things start to feel too

overwhelming."

I agreed and she put away her notebook

and stood. "Our time is up, but I hope you'll continue to come see me so we can work

through this together. I liked your mother

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and it would be an honor to help her

daughter."

"I'd love to come back," I said, "but unless my campus insurance covers this, I can't

afford it."

She smiled. "Your sessions are on me.

Pro bono. You can pay it forward when

you're an attorney and find a client who

needs your help but may not have the means

for it."

"Thank you."

I felt a small measure of hope blossom in

my chest as I left her office, only to have it

quashed when I found myself face-to-face

with Detective Gray. "Miss Travis, I need you to come to the precinct with me and answer

a few questions."

The temporary calm disappeared and I

looked to Professor Cavin, who stood behind

him helplessly, and then to Lauren, who

placed herself between me and the detective

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despite relatively little room. "What's this about?" she asked.

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