Page 35 of One Breath After Another

“That. Back there with Tippens.”

He stopped walking. Penny turned to face Naz at the same time.

“I guess,” she said when he continued staring at her while saying nothing, “I’m still surprised you guys keep doing anything for me at all when I don’t do very much for you except ... be here. In the way.”

“You’re not in the way, for one. And don’t be surprised about shit. This is what we do for people we love, Penny. We take care of them. We take care of you.” He didn’t give her time to consider his words before he said, “Therapist appointment next, right?”

Penny nodded, her throat thick with an emotion she hadn’t expected. “Yeah.”

• • •

THERAPY WAS THE SAME as it always was which meant Penny zoned out the second she sat on the chair facing the windows. For a while, Dr. Tangler was willing to play along with her patient’s typical behavior, but then she asked a question that couldn’t be ignored.

“Are you willing to talk about your father today?” the therapist asked.

Penny snapped out of her haze in an instant. “Talk about what, specifically?”

“Well—”

“I did hours of victim testimony. Sat in front of cameras while I talked to detective after detective. And I know you were given access to all of it, so what exactly do you want me to say to you about him that I haven’t already said?”

Over her shoulder, she found the therapist staring back at her instead of down at the pad in her hands that she constantly scribbled notes throughout their sessions. What Penny would give to get a single peek at those notes even once.

What did the woman write about her?

What did she think?

Probably nothing worse than what Penny dealt with on her own. It couldn’t be.

“For those things,” Dr. Tangler replied, “you detailed the sexual abuse and circumstances of your situation over the years. I was thinking—”

“It’s all the same. Him. What he did to me. Nothing is different now.”

“How about his death, for starters. We could talk about that and if that’s had any—”

“He got what he deserved,” Penny said, a venom coating every single word. And she didn’t regret it, even when the doctor’s eyes widened at her patient’s outburst. “And he’s where he belongs, too.”

In hell.

She hoped he burnt there forever.

Turning back to the window, Penny ignored the sound of a pen scratching against paper behind her. She expected the woman to push the topic a little more—as if every other time Preston Dunsworth was brought into their sessions, and she refused to talk about it would change.

Instead, the therapist changed the subject. Entirely.

“How are things at home with Nazio and Rosalynn?”

Penny’s brow dipped. “Fine. Why?”

“I wonder if you’re happy there or if ... things have changed at all. I wanted to ask if you noticed anything that made you uncomfortable or that you might want to chat about with me while you’re here.”

That didn’t sit right.

Penny didn’t know why.

Red flag number one.

This was the first time the therapist ever asked about Naz and Roz in such a way. If anything, the doctor seemed to like the way Penny responded to her guardians and being in their custody. It wasn’t an issue.