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Well, well, well.Poppy’slack of response to me now made sense.Whenshe found outIbought the school, she wasn’t the least bit surprised thatIsought out their table.PoppythoughtIwas a friend of her mom’s.
“Ihave to leave for orientation now.”Poppyreturned to the table and gathered her items. “Wasthat a yes or no to the brain scan?” she asked me.
“Idon’t think we should botherMr.Trimalchiowith this,”Piyainterjected.
“When?”IaskedPoppy, ignoringPiya.Thiscertainly worked out to my advantage.
“Tomorrow, around this time, works for me.”
Piyatuned out my wolfish grin. “I’msureMr.Trimalchiois way too busy to help.”
“It’sfor science,”Poppycountered, looking straight at me.
“Anythingfor science,”Isupplemented.
“Inthat case,I’llsee you tomorrow.”Justlike me,Poppyignored her mother, who was doing everything in her power to shut this down.
“I’llemail your school email address with my contact information and any other details you need to prep.”
AbewilderedPiyacouldn’t hold back. “Waita minute—”
“Soundsgreat.”Poppyknew if she hung around longer,Piyawould successfully ban us from keeping further acquaintances. “I’llsee you tomorrow.Bye.”
“Poppy—”
Piya’sretort died whenIreached over to squeeze her hand.AhorrifiedPiyasnatched back the hand and watched after her daughter, who was already halfway across the cafeteria.
Iwaited forPiyato scream or blast me.Interestingly, she did neither.Piyamerely stood, her back straightening with accuracy, and said coolly, “Goodbye,Mr.Trimalchio.”
ChapterEleven
OneYearAgo
* * *
Piya
Iwatched patientlyasDr.Stevensonpicked up a slab of the baked brie with pear and smeared it on a cracker.Couplemore bites, and he’d be in the mood to talk.
Dr.Stevensonwas a family friend.Hewas also one of the best child psychologists fromNewYorkand recently moved toChicago.Afterdiscovering this information,Iwas determined to signPoppyup for therapy.Iwas running out of ideas to get my daughter on a better path and trustedDr.Stevensonirrevocably.Hehad no bullshit to spare and was a straight shooter.Hewas precisely whatPoppyneeded.
However, before signingPoppyup for sessions,Ihad questions of my own.Dr.Stevensonwas diligent about patient confidentiality.Minoror not, he didn’t discuss patients outside of sessions unless they thought of harming themselves or others.Heespecially disliked nosy parents.
Imet him during his lunch break, hoping he wouldn’t see this as helicopter parenting.Ieven brought a homemade lunch in hopes of bribing him with food.Foras long asIhad known him,Dr.Stevensonhad never been able to turn down my home-cooked meals.
“Areyou all right,Piya?”Dr.Stevensonasked.
“Ofcourse.Whywouldn’tIbe?”Iput on the biggest smileIcould muster under the circumstances.Poppygot kicked out of school.Iwas scared shitless of it becoming a pattern and resorting to homeschooling.Poppyalready had difficulty getting along with other kids.Isolatingwould further amplify her anti-social tendencies.
Poppywas young whenIrealized her interests differed from the other children.TheAmbanifamily was large, with a multitude of aunts, uncles, and cousins.Whileher other cousins played dress up and tried on heels,Poppyused to memorize the serial numbers on the back of theWi-Firouter for fun.Whereasthey competed in science fairs,Poppythought her competition existed in boardrooms.However,Poppywas never violent before, with some deep-seated appreciation of the macabre.Sheonly wanted bigger and better things for herself.Poppywas only five when she walked into her papa’s home office and announced, “WhenIgrow up,I’llsit inPapa’schair in the boardroom.”
Jaywas so proud and excited.WechampionedPoppy’sdreams until things took a nosedive.Ino longer knew how to help my kid and desperately neededDr.Stevenson.
“Youbarged into my office.”Hemotioned at the spread on his desk. “Andwent to great lengths to bribe me.”Hebit into another cracker and brie, gesturing at me with it. “Thiswill get you fifteen minutes of my time.Starttalking.”
See?Straightshooter.
“Okay.”
