Chapter 1 – Tyler
“Tyler, it’s for your own good. Your mother has been on me for days to say something to you. So just go, tell the doctor what they want to hear and deal with it. It won’t be long before she’s happy with your progress. Just do it and save me from getting calls at six o’clock in the morning.”
So Dad didn’t really give a damn if I went or not. It was my mom. She never called me, and it didn’t seem to matter that the two of them had split up years before. If there was a problem, she would call Dad, and then I would get one of these calls.
“Do you know what kind of schedule I have right now? I’m already working more than a lawyer bills.”
“It’s a few sessions for an hour. You can’t squeeze it in for a little peace?”
He was trying to use my emotions against me, but what he didn’t know was that I didn’t have any. Just like him, and it was one of his traits that I didn’t mind sharing. “Let’s talk about the Rothwell deal and then we can talk about peace.”
His face changed as the smile grew on my own. I knew that I had him, and I knew that it was going to suit me well. I was going to make plenty of money for a few hours at a shrink’s office.
“You’re too much like me.” He didn’t realize that his thought mimicked my own.
“Yeah, so do we have a deal?”
“Fine, just call her and tell her that you’ll go.”
I had to chuckle. My father had been with innumerable women, but he was somehow afraid of my mother. I didn’t know what she’d done to him all those years ago, but he still held her in a regard that I just didn’t understand. That or he was just afraid of her. This was one of the moments that I thought the latter. He was going to lose more than I would have been willing to for peace. No woman could get me like that.
“I’ll give her a call this morning. She left me a message with a date and place. It’s for Monday, so I’ll go then. Problem solved. You can send over the paperwork today on the other.”
His agreement was not free of coercion and it showed. What I wouldn’t have given to have been able to see his face. It would have been priceless, or at least it was something I would have paid to see. The smile on my face lasted most of the day after my conversation with him. Not only was I going to make another million or two with very little effort, I was also getting to stick it to dear old Dad as well. I was feeling productive.
***
My good mood lasted till about two o’clock Monday afternoon. That was when I was supposed to go to this doctor that my mother was convinced I needed to go to. It was a small practice, out of the way, and as I stared at the polished white building, I looked back down at the card. Dr. Camilla Loring. The name didn’t seem to fit a doctor, and I didn’t like the idea of getting my head shrunk by a female. It was already going to be awkward enough. Maybe if she was hot, I could pass the time in a more pleasurable way.
I didn’t want to envision some old broad, and when a cute redhead came to ask who I was there to see, I was really hoping she was my doctor. “I’m here to see…” I looked down at the card and repeated it for her.
“Just a minute. I think she’s still with another client. Why don’t you’ve a seat, and she’ll be with you in just a moment.”
“Does this count for my hour?”
She looked at the clock and shrugged, most likely not sure what answer I wanted. “It won’t be long. Camilla is very prompt.”
It was two minutes before I was supposed to be there, and it was exactly two minutes before her head popped out, following a man who seemed to be leaving in tears. That didn’t bode well, and I felt a slight bit of dread when I heard my name called. Only when I really looked at her did everything else fall away.
Dr. Camilla Loring was more beautiful than I could have hoped for. I was already forgetting about the redhead who’d smiled at me with the hint of a promise.
“Nice to see you, Tyler. Come on in.”
I followed her into an office that was the size of my desk. It felt even more cramped when I sat down on the half couch concoction that she had for a seat.
“Is this really necessary? There has to be something better to sit on than this.”
“We could switch places if you like. I wouldn’t mind putting my feet up.”
Her answer threw me off for a moment, and I felt kind of silly. Just like that, she’d put me in my place. I wasn’t sure if I should agree or not.
“This will be fine, thank you.”
The dread inside of me grew. I’d already botched it up.
“I remember you. You were the man in the suit at the front, weren’t you?”
Another blow from left field. I took a closer look at the woman who had my insides in a jumble. “That’s where I was. How did you know?”
“I was in the back, in the changing room.”
“You were there?”
She nodded her head as a flash of pain ran through her eyes. I had a feeling that I had the same look when I thought about the incident. It almost made me feel bad to talk about it, even though she was the one who’d brought it up.
“Well, I’m just here to make some people happy. I don’t have a problem or anything.”
Camilla smiled and her cheeks pushed the bottom of her glasses up on her face. It changed the look of her, and I felt a stirring inside.
“Of course not. Sometimes it’s good to talk about it, and sometimes it’s good to let others think you have. We can talk about whatever you want to. It doesn’t have to be about the mall. I apologize for my forwardness, but I placed you immediately because of that tie.”
I looked down and grinned. “This is the same tie that I was wearing that day. It has now become my lucky tie. I’m not usually superstitious, but when it comes to this, I might be.”
Looking down, I realized that I was holding it harder than I had to. I pulled my hand away and hoped that she hadn’t noticed. She made a note in the small writing tablet in her hands, and I grimaced to myself. She’d noticed.
“I feel lucky as well. Did you lose anyone?”
Shaking my head, I was thankful for that. Not only was I okay, but Ivy was as well. She was not the woman of my dreams, by no stretch of the imagination, but we had a good time together, and I would not have liked it if something had happened to her.
“No, my friend and I were fine.”
The doctor opened her mouth and then shut it, like she’d had an ill-advised thought. I don’t know why, but I was more than a little curious as to what she’d been going to say. “Ask me anything you want. Whatever I can do to make this easier, Doc. I’m an open book.”
“This doesn’t have to be easy. It’s not supposed to be.”
The look in her blue eyes stopped my heart for a moment. There was more there than the entire ocean, and it looked to be the same color as the water in the Caymans where I have a house. “I’m just letting you know that I’m not going to be leaving here in tears like that other guy.”
Her lips pressed together. Apparently I’d annoyed her. She was complicated for a doctor, and not nearly as pulled together as I would have thought. I was starting to think that maybe she was the one who needed to talk about it, not me. I didn’t have a problem.
“I’m glad you’re dealing with it well. You look like you are. It’s a traumatic experience, but we all deal with those in different ways. You say your friend was with you?”
“Yes, Ivy.”
“Is she your significant other?”
I didn’t know why that mattered, and I wasn’t sure why I tempered my answer. It was not something that I did often. “She’s just a friend.”
“I see. Well, how is she dealing with it?”
“Okay, I guess. I haven’t seen her much this week. It isn’t like there’s much between us. I just see her once or twice a week.”
It slipped out before I could stop it, and I saw the blush creep into the woman’s fair skin. I rather enjoyed the way it looked on her, more than I should have. That was what egged me on to say more.
“She’s that kind of friend, so I don’t really have these conversations with her. Ivy is just pretty to look at and fun to be around late at night.”
Dr. Camilla looked away, unable to keep my gaze. I wanted her to think about me naked, as I was thinking about her. It was the first thing I’d thought of when I saw her curvaceous body, and now I wanted her even more. The longer I sat across from her looking at her face, the more I was eager to make these meetings more interesting.