Page 57 of Fight or Flight

“I wouldn’t call seven years a short amount of time, Tyler. Something in my psyche clicked, or so you tell me. Right now, I don’t feel an ounce of fear.”

“I’m not factoring that in. When you said yes to treatment, what, two hours ago, you actually went outside on your own. Let’s try and move forward from there. You need treatment, K, because something caused you to hide away for a good portion of some of the best years of your life. We need to find the cause of it. So even though this miraculous thing has happened, we don’t want you to have a setback.”

She nodded. “That makes me uneasy, I can’t lie. I never want to go back to the way I’ve been existing. I’ll do whatever it takes. If I need to be in a hospital for therapy, I’ll go. I have to start making up for lost time.”

“I’ll come to you for your therapy for now. No hospitals needed. A positive attitude makes a difference,” Tyler said, then asked, “You want to see Doc’s place?”

“Yes, I owe it to him. Let’s go. Sam and Sophie will be thrilled. I’d like to surprise him, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s perfect. Let me call to make sure he’s at the clinic. He makes a lot of house calls,” Tyler said.

“Of course,” Katherine said. She hadn’t thought of that, but again, she hadn’t been out in public since the day she walked through the main entrance to her mansion on the mountain.

“He’s there,” Tyler said, getting off his cell phone. “I told him I just wanted to let him know you were doing okay. I don’t normally lie, but this is worth a little fibbing. Something I seem to be doing more than I should,” he said, grinning.

“I’m ready when you are,” Katherine said. “Anything I should do with the dogs? They’ve never been in a car with me, just Doc’s old truck.”

“Don’t let that fool you. Doc has a red Mercedes-Benz convertible and a Range Rover. I think he also has a couple of Harleys, maybe an old Indian Cycle, too. He drives the truck because he doesn’t want animals ruining his precious vehicles. Before you get the wrong idea, Doc is a car buff, the same as my father. They’re a lot alike—good, honest men. Makes me feel guilty for not caring about cars and trucks as much as they do.”

She went to her desk, still covered in fingerprint dust, and took her wallet out of the drawer. “I don’t know your father, but from the little I’ve heard, he seems like a nice guy. Doc’s best friend. That can’t be bad.” She wanted to meet the senior Dr. Newlon sometime soon, though she kept that thought to herself. “I’m ready to go, Tyler.”

“You’ll get to meet him soon. Follow me,” he said, taking her hand. “I mean, you’re coming with me.” He squeezed her hand. “Doctor’s orders.” He winked at her.

* * *

Walking around to the east side of her house, she saw how the driveway circled completely around her home, leading out to Red Oak Road. She breathed in the crisp, cool afternoon air, a briskness that promised a cool fall evening.

Tyler drove a black Ford Bronco. He opened the hatch for Sam and Sophie. They jumped in the back, as if they’d done it before a million times. “See? They like me,” Tyler said as he opened the passenger door for her. “How are you feeling?”

“Surreal,” she said as she slid into the passenger seat. “Nice wheels, though not quite as fancy as Doc’s, according to you.” Her parents had always purchased a Mercedes-Benz E-Class every other year. Looking back, she knew they were snobbish. But that discussion was for another time, when she and Tyler were better acquainted.

Tyler nestled into the driver’s seat, adjusted the seat belt across his chest, then cranked the engine. “I’m not a fancy car guy, remember? I’m just a Ford fan. K, your seat belt. It’s against the law to ride or drive without using them.”

“Sorry, it’s been a while,” she explained, her voice more serious than it had been all day.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

“Positive, Tyler. Let’s go,” Katherine said. Words she thought she would never say again, and now she spoke to them without fear.

Tyler shifted into gear, and they headed down the winding driveway. Katherine was leaving her house and didn’t feel the least bit frightened. If she counted all the Christmases she’d spent alone and rolled them into one, it couldn’t compare to the excitement she felt now, as Tyler maneuvered the twists and turns leading to Blowing Rock. She pushed the electric window button, letting in the cool air. Her extra-long hair, still a bit damp from her shower, tangled around the passenger-side mirror, but she didn’t care. Just being out with Tyler was the ultimate gift. If she had a panic attack, so be it. She knew she would survive.

When they reached Red Oak Road, Tyler turned to her. “You sure you’re up for this?”

“More than you could imagine,” she said, untangling her twisted hair from the side mirror. With her hair now intact, she closed the window. “That’s a bit dangerous. Not ready to lose my hair yet,” she teased, then had a thought. “Tyler, I know this is completely crazy . . .” Why did she continue to use that word? “Is there a hair salon in town?” She sounded like she’d been in a coma, that everything in the outside world appeared new to her. For seven years, she’d been content with her hair. Now wasn’t the time to be vain.

He laughed. “Hey, we’re not just a bunch of country bumpkins out here,” he said, then reached across the seat and took her hand. “We have a couple of salons in town, K. I’m sure either would love to get their scissors on all that gorgeous hair.”

She squeezed his hand. “Good to know, for the future.”

“When the fall foliage is at its peak, people from all over the country come just to get a look at the red oak trees on either side of the road,” he said, turning onto Red Oak Road.

“Hence the name of the road,” Katherine said. “I’ve never seen it, since the house is too far away. I’ll make sure that I see the trees this year.”

“You’ll make up for lost time,” Tyler said. “I feel it in my bones.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Katherine tried to take in as much as she could. To her left, she saw hundreds of red oak trees, the same to her right. Ahead was more of the same. “And I thought I had the best view around.”

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