Love Therapy (Stanton Falls #2) (2 page)

Aaron feigned shock and
sadness.

“Whoa.  Now don’t
go blaming me because some woman you used to seriously like had no idea who in
the world you were.  It’s actually hilarious that she remembered me
immediately.  You actually should be thanking me because if I hadn’t been
here, maybe you would still be out there trying to convince her of who you
were.”

Aaron spoke in an
imitation voice of Nick’s earlier meeting with Donna.

“You don’t remember me?
 But you sold me apple pie.”

Thinking back, Nick did
feel rather silly trying to convince her of who he was.  

“C’mon man, she said it
was the hair.  Everybody said I look totally different when I got it cut.
 She remembered the
old
me so that counts too.  And as for remembering
you, who wouldn’t remember that constantly goofy look on your face.  For
the record, I leave the office every day hoping I can forget it but every day
you come in and drill it into my mind again.”

“You have got to face
the truth buddy.  Out of the two of us this is just another example that I
am the lasting impression and you are the other guy.  Don’t feel bad pal.
 Nothing wrong with being the other guy.  Like I’m a superhero and
you’re my sidekick.  Like Batman and Robin.  You don’t hear about the
boy wonder by himself.  They know Batman just fine--but no one just
remembers Robin.  It’s Batman
and
the boy wonder or just Batman.
 But if it's any consolation, you make a really cool Robin.”

It was obvious Nick
wasn’t going to let him get his goat.  

“Ok man, enough is
enough.  We could spend all day sitting here talking, or in your case
whining most likely, about how she didn’t remember you but I have got to eat
first so your puppy love is just going to have to wait.”

“Now that’s a bit much
Aaron.  I was just happy to see her again.  I barely even know her.
 It’s ludicrous to say I’m in love with her.”

“Well love or a big
crush, from where I was sitting and what I know, it all looks the same to me
when it comes to you and her.  You have always had a big thing for her and
it hasn’t changed from what I see.”

“Aaron, could you just
order your food?  I’m not even hungry anymore. I’m just taking a coffee.”

“Fine.  Let me get
the waitress’s attention.”

As Aaron went about
putting his order in with the waitress, Nick spent his time thinking back to
the unlikely encounter he had experienced less than ten minutes ago.  In
spite of everything else he was really glad that she was back.   He
just hoped that he would have the chance to see her again without having to
stalk the diner from across the street.
 
Although he felt prepared to do it if he needed to.  

As the waitress got
ready to walk off and put in Aaron’s order, Nick stopped her and added more for
himself besides a coffee.  Moments earlier his stomach had begun to
grumble and he immediately had second thoughts on not getting anything for
himself to eat.  He had a lot of work to do that day and he had a feeling
that it was going to be hard enough concentrating if she penetrated his
thoughts throughout the day like she was doing then.  The last thing he
needed was a growling belly or hunger migraine to slow him down.  

After his order was placed, he sat talking to his
friend but his mind still floated back over and over to the most beautiful
woman he had seen in Stanton Falls since...well since the last time he had seen
her.

“Melissa, I am so proud
of you.  You are making progress in leaps and bounds.”

The teenage girl sat on
an oversized chair in Donna’s office and smiled through light tears.

“How did it feel to have
your mother in here with you today?”

The girl was hesitant a
second, then responded.

“It felt good Ms.
Sherman.  I mean at first I thought she was going to be all judgmental but
she wasn’t”

“Well you know Melissa,
your mother loves you.  Just like you are learning and growing up as a
child, she is learning right along with you as a mother.  That means she
won’t be perfect.”

The girl looked at her
mother who was crying herself before giving in to her obvious desire for a hug.
 

Donna felt really good
about herself.  It was moments like those where she was beyond happy that
she had chosen to become a trained counselor, regardless of the reasons why.
 The girl in her office now, Melissa, was fifteen and was having major
issues at home.  She had been in trouble and was ordered by juvenile
courts to get behavioral counseling.  At first she arrived in Donna’s
office alone--her mother waiting for her outside the door.  She was angry
with the world but Donna had been able to befriend the little girl and gained
some insight into what was causing her so much pain.  It turned out family
issues could create scars in people regardless of what the issues themselves
were.  In short, she saw some of herself in Melissa and helping her to
find a better way to express herself was something that brought real joy to
Donna.  

“Ms. Sherman, thank you
so much.  You have been a Godsend to this family.”

Melissa’s mother spoke
to her from the heart and she could feel the gratitude pouring from her words.
  Donna only hoped that the sessions would continue to progress that
well, eventually leading up to the point Melissa’s father could arrange to sit
in on one of them.  With kids, she knew that when they allowed the parents
in the sessions, results improved dramatically as the lines of communication
opened and understanding was shared.  

Donna felt for Melissa’s
parents as much as she did for the teenager herself.  They were all
learning after all, and her parents did not know what was going to happen to
her had she continued to act out the way that she was.  Now they had hope
as a family to make good happen.  That was every parent’s dream.
 Actually every parent but one.    

Dad, you were royally
messed up.

She still hated her
father.  She didn’t like to use that term because it meant so much and
that wasn’t a place she would allow herself to give in to ever again.
 
But she certainly couldn’t stand him.  

As the mother and daughter
left her office, Donna looked at her appointments booked for the remainder of
the day.  Her schedule was surprisingly light for a Monday.  Since
she joined the tiny staff only a few months ago, she was usually pretty much
back to back on patients.  People often thought that being from a small
city, everyone would be happy and people like her would find no work.  How
wrong they were.  She’d found that there seemed to be as many people or
possibly more with issues in her small town as there were in the larger cities.

She had already
determined that she wanted to go ahead and eventually start her own practice
and she was pretty close to deciding that she could definitely do that in
Stanton Falls, regardless of how small the city was.  But things could always
change.  That was another reason she was thankful that she was unattached.
 Without a husband or kids to worry about, she could go wherever and do
whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.  The only thing was that there
really wasn’t any major thing she wanted to do right then.  Maybe that was
why she wasn’t surprised that she had shown up back at Stanton Falls--even
though she had opportunities to move on from the city she called home.  

Nearing the end of her
final year of schooling, one of her professors had lined up a job offer for her
as she was getting out of grad school.  He told her that a major
corporation came to him directly for recommendations for their staff
counselors.  They liked to have one in every major office as part of the
employee benefit enticers.  He had only ever recommended one other student
to her in the two years they had been consulting with him--until she came
along.  When he initially told her, she was really excited.  That was
even beyond having her own practice because she would be able to help so many
people and she had absolutely no problem that.

Unfortunately for her,
she did have a problem with the job being all the way in New York.  Even
at her age, she had never even left the state of Texas once.  She couldn’t
even begin to fathom how much her life would change if she moved to New York.
 She didn’t like the idea of living in a city the size of New York.
 She really only lived in Dallas to finish up school and that was a bit
much in itself.  Also there was the issue with her family--her mother to
be exact.  She didn’t want to move too far away and leave her mother.
 Since her father had gone to prison, it was just Donna and her mother for
years since her mother had actually moved to Stanton Falls at the behest of her
father.  

As she sat at her desk,
she looked at the picture of herself and her mother on the neatly organized
bookshelf on the wall.  She was where she wanted to be at that point in
time in her life and she was satisfied completely with that.  It was just then
that her phone rang.
 
The id showed that
the call was from the receptionist.

“Cindy, how can I help?”

“I’m sorry Ms. Sherman,
are you busy?”

Donna smiled to herself.
 Cindy couldn’t be any more than five years her junior but you couldn’t tell
by the way she respected her.  Every time she spoke to her it was like
Cindy saw her as a much older person.  Always yes ma’am and no ma’am.
 She’d asked her on numerous occasions to just call her Donna without any
luck.  She’d finally relented when she realized that Cindy had at least
stopped calling her ‘doctor’.  

It was about
time--especially considering the fact that Donna wasn’t actually a doctor at
all but a licensed counselor.  She’d hoped to continue maybe online and use
parts of her current work as work experience towards her doctorate.  She’d
heard that those kinds of things were possible.  If not, that was fine
too.  In all honesty, she really didn’t care for titles and the barriers
that she noticed came with them.  She was trying to become closer to her
patients, not separate herself from them more.  

“No not at all, and
don’t be sorry.  So what do you need?”

“I just needed to let
you know that Dr. Faulkner would like to see you before leaving today.  He
said he had something important that he needed to discuss with you when the day
is over.  Can I ask you what time to give him?”

“Well, I don’t have
anyone now.  Is he available?

“Let me check.  One
second….”

The woman went silent as
she was apparently checking to see if he was available.  Moments later she
returned.

“He actually is
available right now as well.  I’ll let him know that you are on your way
over now.”

“Great.  Thanks
Cindy.”

Donna hung up the phone
and sat in her chair for a moment before standing up.  Dr. Faulkner was
the lead doctor in the practice and she’d had several interactions with him but
none like that.  It felt akin to being called into the principal’s office
in high school.   She didn’t know why but she felt her stomach turn.
 She had a bad habit of assuming the worst in situations and that one was
no different.   A million scenarios raced through her mind as she
left her office.  

It can’t be a
malpractice suit, could it?

She could almost dismiss
that.  She thought back to the patients that she had been working with and
they all seemed to glow about how much she was helping them.   Well
almost all of them, with the exception of the one patient that she had spoken
with last week.  He particularly did not like the advice she had given him.
 She still didn’t think it would be something to that degree with him.
 She’d find out soon enough what it was all about.  

She reached her
destination, took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly before she rapped her
knuckles lightly on the door.  

“Come on in, Donna.”

She opened the door to
see him sitting at his desk, a warm look on his face. He stood and shook her
hand in greeting as she entered his office.  He was the epitome of what
she thought about when she considered possibly becoming a psychologist.
 Kind, patient, welcoming.  Even with that, she was eager to find out
why she was in his office.  After all, he
was
the guy that signed
her paychecks.  She had reason to be at least a little concerned.

“Thanks for coming by
Donna.  Sit, please.”

He motioned to the chair
across the desk from him.  She sat down, rigid and tense.  That was
when he laughed.  Apparently the look on her face told it all.

“I don’t mean to laugh
but I can tell what you must have been thinking when I asked to see you today.
 Before I go on, stop worrying.  You are a breath of fresh air in the
office and all of your patients seem to be pleased with your work so I don’t
want you to let that concerned look keep lingering.”  

Donna felt her muscles
relax and the tension start to roll off as he clarified the worst of her
worries for her.  

“That obvious huh?”

“Well maybe not for
everyone but you know that’s part of what we do here.  Just so you know,
if there ever is an issue we need to talk about, you don’t have to be afraid.
 You do an excellent job here and as long as you keep doing what you do,
one or two angry patients will arise.  In fact, if you don’t get at least
a few people that are unhappy with something you say, then you probably aren’t doing
your job well enough.  Somewhere along the lines you will run into the
occasional case in which you simply have to make them uncomfortable before you
can help them.”

“Thank you doctor.
 I’m relieved to hear that I am doing well, but if my performance isn’t
this issue, may I ask why you needed to see me?”

Now that she had been
relieved, she was interested to know what it was that he had needed from her.
 

“Ah, yes that.
 Have you heard of ND Marketing & Financial Services?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Really? Well that’s a
surprise but I guess you have been gone for a while.  If I recall, a few
years back before you left, it was a really small business with just a few
employees, but the company has grown over the past few years to… actually, none
of that really matters.  What does matter is that now that their company
is getting bigger, they have decided to provide more benefits for their
employees, including having a therapist on staff for two days a week in order
to help with stress relief.  That’s where you come in.”

“Oh Dr. Faulkner I
understand.  If you need me to pick up more clients in the office so that
you can dedicate to that, I can definitely do so.  In fact, I was noticing
that my schedule has some gaps in appointments.  I can just make sure that
Cindy puts your clients on the two days a week that you go there and that will
settle it all.”

“What?  Heavens no
that isn’t it at all.  I could never pass off a client I have been working
with for years to any other person, regardless of how good I think they are at
what they do.  I couldn’t expect them to start those relationships and
build new trust with another person.”

Donna didn’t quite get
the point of him mentioning the additional position he picked up from the
company if that was the case.  Why tell her about it if he wasn’t going to
need her help.  

“I can see that you
misunderstand what I’m trying to say so allow me to clarify.”

The older man shuffled a
few items on his desk before picking up a manila folder placing it on the desk
in front of her.  He leaned back in his chair, looking at her as he spoke.

“I want
you
to
work for them, on behalf of this office, of course.  You would still get
paid your same salary from here for the clients you see, but they would pay you
above and beyond that in order to be on site and available exclusively for
their employees two days a week.  In this folder are the terms if you
accept.”