AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Feminine?” Parker guessed dryly.
“No,” I cried in horror. “He’s like—I don’t know—cultured. And smooth.”
Gracen was like pure art.
“Ah…” Parker
drew out slowly. “You mean, he’s a pretty boy.”
I sighed in defeat over the entire conversation and just gave up by answering, “Yeah. Sure. He’s a pretty boy.”
“Well…” Parker lifted his hands as if there was no hope for me. “I guess, if you’re into that type, that’s fine.” Then he lifted an eyebrow. “But, seriously, on a scale of one to ten—”
“He’s a twelve,” I blurted in a rush. “Definitely a twelve.”
Eyebrows arched as if impressed, Parker nodded. “Okay, then. Pretty boy’s a twelve. And a gentleman hero, too. How the hell does that remind you of me?”
I smiled over his genuine confusion. “I guess it was more my situation with him that reminded me of my sessions with you. Not his looks. It’s like a controlled environment between us, here, right? You’re trying to acclimate me to physical contact with others and help ease me into growing more accustomed to being close to men, but it’s not at all sexual. And I always know that if any contact goes further than what I’m ready for or if I ever get overwhelmed or start to freak out, you’ll stop. Immediately.”
“Right,” Parker agreed on a nod.
“Well, it was like that last night too. Since it started with him stepping in and scaring off the other guy, then sitting by me through the entire movie to keep the creeper away…” I shook my head. “I don’t know, it just seemed like a safety net had been put down under us. And anything that happened with him was okay. If I ever needed to stop, I instinctively knew he’d step back.” Pausing, I frowned. “Is it even possible to know that about a person when you first meet them? To know they’re safe like that?”
Parker shrugged, but then answered, “I’d like to think so. And since he played hero, it sounds like that was a good assumption, anyway.”
“But he also said some really rude, awful things to me.”
“Like what?”
“Oh…” I waved an unconcerned hand. “You know, just things about my character. Because he thinks of me as the other woman to his sister. And for some reason, even as he was saying some of those things, I…” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It was like I’d already forgiven him for it because he was only saying it in her defense. Everything he did last night was either in concern for me or compassion for his sister. It’s hard to stay mad at a guy who’s like that.”
When I realized Parker was merely watching me, I flushed. “What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing,” he answered, only to smile. “I’m just looking at you and seeing a very different woman from the one I met a year ago. Maybe you are doing okay with just my help.”
“I better be,” I said. “Because I don’t want to pay anyone else to fix my messed-up self.” I couldn’t afford it, anyway, and no way was I going to beg my parents for a therapist. They’d want to know why I needed one, and I wasn’t going down that road with them. Not ever.
With a roll of his eyes, Parker glanced back down at his notebook. “You’re not messed up. And I’m going to mark last night’s objective as a win.” He wrote something down. “Even if you didn’t tell the first man to buzz off like you wanted to, you went to the theater by yourself, you stayed through the duration, and even interacted with someone of the male gender while you were there.” Lifting his pen as if to stop me before I could disagree, he added, “Even if you knew, or felt, or whatever that it was safe with him, I’m going to mark it down as a new meet. Which means, you not only hit your goals, but you went above them. Score one for El.” He grinned encouragingly. “Now let’s move on to the professional, boring side of things. Did you apply anywhere new?”
I bit my lip and nodded. I had a temp job now. But it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, which had caused Parker to press me into chasing my dream and apply at new places, even if I thought I had no chance of getting a position.
And I’d actually followed his advice. “I got a bite from this one agency,” I admitted, blushing again. “We had a short phone interview. If my references check out, I think I’ll get an in-person meeting with them next.”
“Really? Wow.” My life coach whistled in awe. “Way to go, El. I’m impressed.” He wrote that in his notebook as well.
Now came the part where we discussed new goals to reach for. My stomach always swirled during this time. I feared he’d want me to do something I wasn’t capable of or ready for. But Parker was a pro at reading his clients. He never made things too hard, just stretched it enough to make you feel a bit of an uncomfortable sweat and yet still close enough to think, “I can do this.” You always reached higher and higher for him.
After we came up with a few new objectives to meet, we started to pack our bags and walk from the gym together.
“So I’ll see you next week. Same time,” he added, arching his eyebrows at me. “Expect to lose by way more than two points, though.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” I flipped back, only to point and say, “And please wear your hat next week. Your head looks weird without one on.”
His hand immediately sought his hair, where he winced. “Don’t even get me started on that. But yeah, I’m supposed to get it back tonight if my asshole buddy doesn’t forget it.”
“I honestly had no idea you had so much hair,” I told him, shaking my head slowly and unable to stop staring. “I always figured you had to be going bald because you hid your head so much.”
“Pfft,” he sniffed. “Of course, I have hair. But I gots to hide my luscious mane from the rest of the world, you see. Only my Bea is allowed to handle all this awesomeness.”
