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“You’re staring,” she sing-songs as she sets the folded shirt in a dresser drawer.
“Am not.”
“I’m beautiful, I know.”
I pick up a pair of wrinkled jeans that came straight from a hot dryer when I threw them in my suitcase. The pant legs whip as I snap them in the air. “Just feeling lucky.”
“Lucky, huh? And why is that?”
I bump my shoulder against hers as she moves back to the suitcase. “That I still have someone to share my life with.”
She glances at me before grabbing a pair of socks. “Do you want to talk about it yet?”
“About what?” I ask, even though I know exactly what she’s talking about.
“Your parents. Them dying. You know, the shit you have yet to discuss with me.”
I sigh. “They died. There’s no use talking about it.”
She whips back toward me and blindly shoves the socksinto the top drawer. “Your parents died a horrific death, Tegan. I mean, at least they were sleeping, but no one should die in a house fire. That had to leave a mark on you, or you wouldn’t have rushed to get here like this.”
Setting the folded jeans down on the bed, I turn to face her with my arms folded across my chest. “It was horrible, okay? It was. And what came after was even worse, but --”
She nearly snarls when she cuts me off. “Your boss should have never made you be in charge of their funeral. That was so sick and twisted.”
It may have been a closed-casket funeral, so I never saw their charred bodies, but it made me sick to my stomach to plan and attend their funeral at the same time. Many tears were shed that day, and I’m surprised I even got the job done. It definitely didn’t do anything to help me heal, that’s for sure.
I quit my job the next day. I have zero regrets about that. And the day after that, I made my quick arrangements to move here and be with Tori, the only person I have left.
“Yeah, my therapist wasn’t happy,” I grumble as I look down at my feet.
“From what you’d told me, he sounded like a good therapist to have.”
He was. I met him at a funeral a year ago. I don’t know what I must have looked like, but it must have been bad because he approached me and gave me his card, telling me to set up an appointment. It took me a week, but I did end up calling him, and he saw me the next day.
I was depressed. My life was death. I was surrounded by death, afraid of death, and was lonely because of death. He guided me through all that and helped me see the bright side of my miserable job, which was no easy feat. Instead of bringing closure to a family like I wanted whenI went to school, I only brought about more tears. More sadness. I felt like the Grim Reaper, even though I wasn’t the one killing anyone.
As soon as I left Chicago, I could breathe again. I felt baptized in a new life. I knew then and there that the choice I made was the right one, even if Dr. Lynn didn’t think so.
“Yeah, but he didn’t want me to leave,” I amend. “And our sessions keep running through my head.”
She crosses the short distance between us and places both hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look up at her. “I can tell, just by looking at you, that you made the right choice.”
“Oh, I know I did.”
“Good.” She pecks my cheek. “I just didn’t want you to doubt yourself about this.”
I shake my head. “I don’t. Not one bit. I mean, I wish I had more time to have found a better place to rent because . . .” I circle my hand, gesturing to the entire house. Tori was appalled when I gave her the tour, so I know she’ll know what I mean.
She chuckles and drops her arms back to her sides, returning to the suitcase for another garment. “This will be fun, and you know it. Building something from nothing draws a complete parallel to your life right now. It’ll be good for you.”
“You’re probably right.”
She flicks her gaze at me with a knowing look. “You know I’m right.”
I bump my shoulder against hers again and suppress a smile. “Thirsty?”
“Got something stronger than water?” she asks with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
