“Now we’re going to exhale to make space for all the new things that God wants to bring into your world. Okay?”
Nina nodded like a little schoolgirl.
“Five, four, three, two…..”
Nina blew out a breath of despair and finished counting. “One.”
Her shoulders began to relax and her jaw unclenched itself.
Dr. Berry continued to rub Nina’s back and squeeze her at her side. This was out of her norm but she knew that vulnerability wasn’t a trait that she possessed. Nina Marcelle was ice cold baby.
“Tell me something good,” Dr. Berry suggested.
“Like what?” She didn’t have anything positive to say these days.
“What’s your favorite memory of you and Jio? Sometimes, we have to trick the brain. Maybe we should spend this session remembering the good times and not focusing on pain, sorrow… your heartbreak and the immense amount of grief that you’re feeling.”
Nina sort of liked the way that sounded.
“Yeah, maybe so.”
“So let’s forget the last few days, mainly his death. The funeral. All of that. Take me back to how things were before his illness took over. Y’all were in a pretty good space, right?”
She shrugged. Nina and Jio were forever up and down. They argued more than they made love, but it always made the sex sweeter, so she didn’t complain.
“We were good,” she concluded.
“What’s the last date y’all went on? Tell me about that. I want to know.”
Dr. Berry went back to her seat and got comfortable. She would never disclose the fact that she thoroughly enjoyed Nina’s way of telling a story. Maybe it was because she was an avid reader. In her spare time, which wasn’t often, she enjoyed reading to the kids at the Arts Center that she opened in honor of her best friend, Ephrem, who passed away many years ago.
Nina wiped her face. “This is the most I’ve cried in a long time.” Dr. Berry noticed that she didn’t have many lashes attached to her eyelids.
“You’re cleansing your soul and that’s okay. It’s needed.”
She was a G. All this crying was slowing her down.
“I’ll share a memory with you, but before we go there, I have to tell you about my results.”
Dr. Berry wasn’t going to ask, but she was glad that she brought it up.
“Oh, yes when did they come back?”
“The day of the wake. I was late getting there and Javon chewed me out in front of his uncle. I just stared at him…. he’s been rude to me lately but I’m giving my baby grace.”
Nina pinched the bridge of her nose. Life was really trying to get the best of her.
“Is he still seeing his therapist?”
Nina nodded. “He’s intentional and I love that about him. Between the breakup and Jio… he better not be skipping his sessions.”
His childhood wasn’t as perfect as people probably assumed it was. Javon survived a lot of shit. He’d been caught in the middle of one too many of his daddy’s battles.
“I hope you’re taking your own advice.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “I’ll do better.”
Dr. Berry grabbed her notepad to jot a thought down before it slipped her mind. Nina wondered what it was.
