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“Is everything okay?” I asked when I opened the door and invited him inside.
“Yes, fine,” he responded, but I could tell it wasn’t.
“Wait,” I said when he walked in the direction of the kitchen. “Whatever it is, tell me.”
I had panic attacks less frequently, but one of my triggers was when I thought someone was keeping something from me. I closed my eyes and practiced the breathing techniques Dr. Benedict had taught me. Press rushed over and led me to the sofa. He sat beside me and rubbed my back as I took deep breaths.
“I’m sorry, pet. It’s my parents. My mum, actually. She’s summoned me to Napa for a visit.”
I hated it when he called me pet, but he probably didn’t realize he’d done it. Usually, he caught himself and apologized.
“How long will you be gone?” I asked.
“I’m not certain. Perhaps a few days.”
Dr. Benedict’s concern about my dependence on him came to the forefront of my mind. The idea he’d be gone one day, let alone several, made the panic worse. It wasn’t fair to him, and I knew it. I just didn’t know how to make it stop.
“Talk to me, Luisa,” he said, leaning forward to kiss my forehead like he did so often.
“I’ll be okay. You need to see your parents.” I repeated the words in my head.I’d be fine. He had a life that didn’t revolve around me. I’d be fine.
“How’s this? I’ll go for the day, then return in the morning. You’ll hardly know I’m gone.”
“You don’t have to do that, Press. I’ll be—”
“Fine. Yes, I know. However, I will not be. As I spoke the words ‘several days,” I realized I could not possibly stay away that long.”
“Press—”
“It’s settled. I’ll return in the morning. Now, we have some other things to talk about today, do we not?”
Over dinner last night, he’d brought up the subject of me completing my degree, like he had a couple of times before.
“Graduating.”
He smiled. “I do strongly believe your professors will allow you to complete the last few assignments and exams independently, given the reason you were unable to at the end of the semester.”
“Do you really think they’d let me?”
“I do.”
The emphatic way he said it led me to believe he didn’t “think” they would. He knew they would.
“You’ve talked to them, haven’t you?”
Press didn’t get embarrassed easily, and when he did, it was hard to catch unless someone spent as much time with him as I did. “Not with them, no. However, my father and the dean of the business school are quite good friends…My apologies if I’ve overstepped.”
“You haven’t.” It wasn’t just seeing him every day; I depended on Press for so much more. The man did everything he could for me, and then some. “Thank you.”
“Whatever I can do to help, say the word.”
I smiled.
“Next subject.”
“The ranch.”
Press nodded. “Have you given any further thought to visiting?”
