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His parents stayed married simply because of money.
“I’m sorry,” Bethany said. “I brought you some food.”
She held up a bag.
“Thanks.”
“Also. Would it be wrong for me to sit on the face of a client of yours?”
I tilted my head.
“Just asking,” Bethany said. “Because that dickhead hockey player? He can get it. Every single day. Every single night. Any hole. Any position. Any time.”
“Bethany.”
“Right. I’ll go back to work.” She turned and walked away. And she called out, “Don’t forget about Julie! She’ll be here in an hour.”
“Julie,” I whispered to myself.
I sighed.
The woman who believed her dead cat came back to life… as a rose bush.
“It’s not farfetched.And it’s not like I boast about it, you know? I’m not trying to bring attention to myself. I’m just particular about things.”
“Particular,” I said to Julie. “Can you give me an example?”
“Sure. I have landscapers who work on my yard. I don’t want them near the rosebush. They think I’m a little nuts for it. Well, last year, one of their guys cut a stem off the bush. Off my rosebush. Off my Cathryn!”
The cat’s name had been Cathryn.
Cathryn Ulysses Nina Thompson.
I saw the word that name made up jump off the page the first time Julie said it.
To this day, she never brought it up.
A part of me just wanted to pause the session, bring some lightness to it and ask Julie if she realized her cat’s initials spelledCUNT.
But I didn’t.
Because Julie truly believed in her heart that Cathryn was back alive.
Living in a rosebush.
“What happened when the rosebush was damaged?”
“Oh, the cries,” Julie said.
“Cries? You heard cries?”
“I felt them. I know it’s crazy. Look, Dr. Autumn, I don’t sit here and try to make this seem normal. Or okay. I know how this sounds. I’ve been talking to you for six months now…” She swallowed. “Am I doing okay?”
“Julie, I think you’re doing just fine,” I said to her. “Grief is a difficult thing for all of us to experience. And there’s no set path for it either. There’s no timeline. There’s…”
“What if this isn’t grief?”
“Julie, as I’ve said before, getting into something of a supernatural conversation doesn’t exactly sit well with me. My goal is to help you through what you’re experiencing. I’m not going to discount it. I’m not going to tell you to ignore it. I want you to move through this experience and beyond.”
