Shrink Rap by Robert B. Parker

Author:Robert B. Parker [Parker, Robert B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780515136203
Publisher: Jove
Published: 2002-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 38

Sonya Burke crossed her legs in the straight armchair across from Dr. Melvin, aware that she was showing a lot of leg.

“He dumped me a year and a half ago,” I said.

Dr. Melvin wore a beautiful black suit with a white shirt. The shirt had a Windsor collar and French cuffs. His cuff links were black onyx with a small diamond chip in the center. He nodded gently.

“But he’s paying for it,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows.

“Alimony,” I said.

“Ah,” he said and smiled a little. “Does that make you feel less angry toward him?”

“I’m not angry toward him,” I said. “But if he’s going to dump me he’s going to pay for the privilege.”

Melvin nodded.

“Besides.” I tried a grim smile. “It supports me while I look for another man.”

Melvin nodded.

“It seems that all the men I like are gay. The straight men are jerks.”

“And you need straight men,” Melvin said.

“Of course.”

“Because you need sex.”

“Sure.”

“More than occasional sex with Richie?” Melvin said.

“Yes.”

“You’re an attractive woman,” Melvin said. “That should not be an issue.”

“I don’t want to sleep with jerks,” I said.

“Who do you want to sleep with?”

I felt a tiny thrill in the center of my stomach. The bait was out there, floating on the surface.

“Men with brains,” I said, “and maybe a little style, some authority.”

“Talk about that a little more.”

“I like men I can respect,” I said.

“What do you respect?”

“I like men I can look up to. It’s probably what drew me to Richie.”

“What did you admire in him?” Melvin said.

He was perfectly still, watching me closely, his legs crossed at the ankle, leaning back in his chair, his hands folded over his stomach. I thought a minute.

“He was, he is, so in control of himself and his own life.”

Melvin nodded. His big dark eyes stayed steady on me. He raised his eyebrows.

“I loved that in him,” I said.

Melvin waited.

“But, with us,” I said, “he wouldn’t take control.”

“Did you?”

“Take control? No. I couldn’t. I didn’t want it. I wanted him to give us direction. He’d always say, ‘whatever you’d like.’ For Christ’s sake, I wanted to like what he liked.”

I thought I was chumming the water. But I had the uneasy sense that what had begun as a story to trap him had slithered awfully close to a therapeutic admission.

“Have there been other men in your life like that?” Melvin said.

“My father…” My father? Where the hell am I going? “My father probably made every decision my mother was ever involved in.”

“And with you?”

“He always supported anything I wanted to do.”

“But he didn’t tell you what that should be?”

“No.”

“Like Richie.”

“My God,” I said. “Am I a living breathing cliché? Do I suffer from Oedipal conflict?”

Melvin smiled.

“Parents often have a great influence on us when we’re children,” he said. “And the influences sometimes linger.”

“Oh, God,” I said. “That’s such a shrinky thing to say.”

Melvin smiled at me. His voice was kind and almost amused.

“Miss Burke,” he said. “I am a shrink.”

I almost liked him at that moment.

“My mother was always bossy and mouthy,” I said.

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