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“I don’t know if you can say that, Owen,” I laugh.

“Long-term goals?” he asks.

“Get a job,” I say. “I know I don’t want to do anything with psychology right now. Maybe one day, but I need to be in a better spot before I take something like that on.”

“I may be able to get you a few interviews with some people I know will accommodate you.”

“You mean therapy, or the random panic attacks?”

“Yes,” he says with a smile. “I have a friend who is actually looking for an assistant. He’s a football coach and the most disorganized human I’ve ever met.”

“I do like organizing things,” I say.

“Yeah, I was reading the staff notes, and you alphabetized the books several times.”

“People are heathens,” I say. “Truthfully, I am afraid that the media will come after me, but I know Sadie has done well relaying everything to social media. She’s been a huge help.”

“She was the friend from college that you and Liam were friends with, yes?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I feel like I have a lot to make up for with her.”

“Have you told her that?”

“Yeah. She told me to shut up,” I laugh. “She said that all she wants is for me to choose myself and that would be more than enough.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I… Don’t know,” I say. “I guess I never really included her in the good things in my life because she was just too good to be true. I had never had a ride-or-die friend before her, but she is just… always there. Sometimes I forget she lost Liam and Alex, too.”

“Make space for her healing as well as your own,” he says. “Don’t get stuck in this habit of denying others comfort because you think you aren’t healed enough to help others. You graduated at the top of your class and hold a master's in criminal psychology. You know better than anyone that healing is never linear, and even the helpers need help sometimes.”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “I did have an idea that I could find a full-time job with my MBA, but I do volunteer work with victims of violent crimes.”

“What would your goal be?”

“To make sure they know they aren’t alone,” I say. “Everyone has trauma, yes, but some people have gone through horrific things, and they made it through it. Liam was the one who taught me that there is always tomorrow. Tomorrow can be brighter if I choose to make it there. Every day I get to choose if I want to make it to tomorrow, and I think that’s important to know that even when you feel out of control, you are still in control of even the most basic of things.”

“When you are feeling up to it, maybe you can help me lead group therapy,” he says. “Once a week I lead group therapy for sexual assault survivors.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” I say. “I mean, it’s shitty that it has to exist, but cool that you do that.”

“I think it would be good for you to not hide from your degree, Nora,” he says. “If you want your main job to be using your business degree, fine, but you got into psychology for a reason. Give yourself permission to find that part of yourself again.”

“Yeah,” I say with a small smile.

“You ready for this?” he asks.

“Mmm. Yeah. I think so,” I say.

“Let’s go,” he says, standing up.

“Are Ricky and Sadie here now?” I ask.

“No. I asked them to let me bring you to your apartment,” he says, and I frown at him. “Oh, come on. You had to expect our first encounter to include the graveyard, Nora.”

“I know,” I sigh and stand up. “You gonna make me go visit Daddy’s grave next?”

“Why? Wanna go see him?” he asks, and I shake my head. “Hmm. Another day, I suppose,” he says with a smile.