Page 33 of Journey To Sunrise

“Six things?”

“I beg your pardon?” I turned to look at Chloe in the waiting room. We were the only two people in small area, but she was still whispering.

“There are six things that are making me feel better.”

I grinned. “Let me guess. Butterfly Bakery’s cupcakes have now made the list.” She’d had one for breakfast this morning.

Chloe nodded. “Yep.”

“Okay, so what’s number six?”

“You are.”

The door to the therapist’s office opened and a small man came out. “Hi, I’m Dr. Michaels. You must be Ms. Avery. Would you like to come in?”

Chloe stood up, and they looked to be the same height. I imagined how Luke must tower over the doctor. As if I could read his mind, Dr. Michaels looked over at me, his eyes twinkling. “You must be Mr. Post. Mr. Larkin speaks highly of you. Are you going to be waiting for Ms. Avery?”

“I am.”

“Follow me, Ms. Avery.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled as she followed him into the office. Then the door shut.

I picked up a magazine and thought about what Chloe said. I was one of the six things that made her feel good. That was huge. Thank God she felt that way. Luke’s comment the other day had hit home.

The last relationship that I’d had lasted four months, and that was two years ago. When we’d finally parted ways, I’d been relieved. After a few beers, I admitted to Luke that the woman hadn’t measured up. When Luke pressed me to explain that comment, I couldn’t. Luke had just laughed and made some remark about me having my head up my ass.

Now I realized that I had been measuring women against Chloe Rose for years. I stretched back in the small office chair and let my head rest against the wall and thought about what that meant. I felt a grin form on my face. For one thing, it meant that Luke was right, and I’d had my head up my ass. For another, it meant that I had to figure out a way to find out if Chloe might be on the same page. Me being the sixth thing was a good sign.

I felt my phone vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the group text. The Averys were a pushy lot. They demanded daily updates. Up until today, I hadn’t had anything significant to report. Seeing Zoe’s request, I realized I wasn’t going to tell them about Chloe’s appointment. It just felt wrong to basically go behind Chloe’s back about this step.

She’s eating more. I see improvement.

I pressed send.

Drake was the first one to reply. He was always the first to reply.

What else do you have to report?

I ignored it.

My phone buzzed.

It was Drake.

I let it go to voicemail.

* * *

Chloe

I felt drained. I stared out the window watching the traffic go by on the toll road. It was taking forever to get back to Zarek’s house. It felt cold. I looked at my purse that held the vile slip of paper. I hadn’t realized that the therapist had actually been a psychiatrist. He had prescribed medication. Averys didn’t need fucking pills. We pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps.

I needed to get back to the house so I could get to the guest bedroom and tear the paper into tiny little pieces. Tiny, tiny little scraps.

“Chloe, are you okay? You’re shivering.”

“I hate him.”