The Patient: A Novel by Steena Holmes

Author:Steena Holmes [Holmes, Steena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542040389
Published: 2019-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21

PATIENT SESSION: SAVANNAH

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Savannah had been in my office for fifteen minutes, and we’d hardly said two words to each other.

Her uncle was supposed to show up, and he was late.

She’d called, texted, left messages, but gotten no response.

We both looked at the clock at the same time.

“He’s going to be here.”

I looked down at the notes I’d written after Savannah arrived.

She was full goth today. Black ripped jeans. Black tank top. Wide black cuff on her left wrist. Black lipstick, thick eyeliner, mascara, and nail polish.

Such a dramatic change in just one week.

“Have you heard from your parents?”

The scowl on her face deepened as she leaned against the couch, her feet up on the coffee table. She knew I hated her boots on my furniture.

She picked at the threads of the holes in her jeans and didn’t answer.

“Savannah?” I asked, my tone sharp as barbed wire. I wasn’t in the mood for nonsense today. Despite sleeping until around one in the afternoon, I had woken up groggy and irritable.

“They’ve called. Talked to my uncle. Not me.” Sullen. Hostile. Brooding. Everything I didn’t want to deal with today.

“Your choice? Your uncle’s or your parents’?”

“Mine.”

Avoiding her parents, I wrote.

“I didn’t want to talk to them, okay? I don’t care if they’re having the best vacation ever or that they saw dolphins and had sex in the sand.”

I smothered a laugh as best I could. “I doubt they said they’d had sex in the sand.”

“I have no idea. I didn’t talk to them.”

“It sounds like you might be a little upset they didn’t take you on their trip.”

“I wouldn’t want to go on a shitty trip to some shitty beach where there’s nothing to do but snorkel with the shitty fish.” She slouched even more on my couch.

I raised one brow at her choice of words.

“Sure sounds like a shitty trip to me,” I said, tongue in cheek.

I caught the slight turn of her lips before she noticed I was looking.

“I wish my uncle would hurry up.” She continued to play with the threads on her knee, picking away at them little by little until the hole grew in size.

“How are things going with him? Has it been as awesome as you expected?” By her attire, I would say no.

She shrugged.

“Have you done any exciting things yet?” They must have had their pizza party and movie night at least.

She shrugged again.

“Savannah? How about we use our words. I’m not that great at shrug reading.”

“We’ve done stuff.” Her voice was soft. “We’ve watched a few movies.”

“Anything planned coming up?”

She shook her head. “He said we would go camping, but it seems like he just wants to stay home and play house.”

I perked up at that, not liking what I heard.

Play house? That was an odd choice of words to use.

“How do you feel about that?” I kept my words steady, slow, but my tone light.

“Whatever. It’s fine. Like I said, we watch a lot of movies, and he doesn’t bug me about sleeping in like my mom does.

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