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“I just want us to find our balance already between our issues and everything else. We do good some of the time, but it always goes back to that.”
“Maybe you should bring her in for a session and I can help.”
I groan. “I’ll think about bringing it up to her,” I tell her honestly.
“Good. Anything else? Our time is nearly up.”
“Already?” The word slips out of my mouth with a frown before I realize it.
She laughs. “Yes. Don’t worry too much about things, Corey. You’re making progress whether it feels like it or not. That’s the most important thing to remember.”
MY FOOD ARRIVES just as my phone rings with a call from Lucy. I’m at the bar with Nate and some other guys from work. The game just started and I’m starving. Oh well. Excusing myself, I step away from the noise and into a hallway leading to the bathrooms.
“Hey, Luce. How was your trip?” She came back today.
“Amazing! I forgot everything I loved about the beach. It was so beautiful, Corey. Grant’s parents are great too. They already told me I could come visit over the summer.”
I smile at her enthusiasm. “That’s wonderful, Luce. I’m glad y’all had a good time. Guess what I’m doing?”
“What?”
“Watching some NHL game. I like it. I’ll go to one of Grant’s games with you next season.”
She squeals. “Yay! I can’t wait. What made you watch one?”
“My coworkers like hockey, and they invited me to a bar to watch the game with them.”
“That’s good! How have you been doing?” she adds softly.
With a deep breath, I remember my promise of keeping them updated. “Not my best week, but I’m good. Still going to work and to my appointments. My therapist even told me today I’m making progress.”
“I’m really happy to hear that, Corey. Oh! I almost forgot. You know how beach houses have names? Well, ours was Nepenthe. It was bothering me because I had never heard of it before and it just looked like a weird word. Grant didn’t know what it meant, so we looked it up. The first definition wasn’t as good as the second one, because it said it was a drug or drink or the plant that produces it. Anyway, the second definition was that it’s basically anything that gives you a pleasurable feeling to cause you to forget your sorrow or troubles. I just really liked it, thought it was cool, and definitely perfect for a beach house.”
My mind immediately thinks of Olivia. That definition is her. She makes me forget my sorrow and troubles. Tossing my football occasionally does the same thing. My job does it too. My world, even when it’s still covered in a darkness, has plenty of nepenthes. Unfortunately, the most important one in my world is mad at me.
“Corey? Are you still there?” Lucy’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah, sorry. I like it too, Luce.”
“Finally. Jon and Patrick didn’t really care. I knew I could count on my biggest brother.” I laugh. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your friends. I just wanted to call and talk to you for a few minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll call you next week.”
“Alright. I love you.”
“Love you too, Luce. Bye.”
Physically, I’m eating, talking to Nate, and watching the game. Mentally, I’m with Olivia, planning my next move. Everything Nate is telling me about hockey and how it’s played is going in one ear and out the other. After I finish my meal, though, I do try to focus on the here and now.
“And he just scored a hat trick,” Nate informs me. The guys are pretty excited by that.
“A hat trick?”
“Yeah, he’s scored three goals, which is a hat trick. There are different kinds, but we won’t get into that. How do you not know more if you sister dates a hockey player?”
“Because she doesn’t understand sports in layman’s terms,” I laugh. “Besides, he’s a goalie and she talks about him more than the overall game anyway.”
He nods. “Gotcha. So what did you do before you started working with us?”
