Page 21 of Phoenix

Chapter 5

Case

You’d think after years of therapy, I’d be used to the process by now.

The couches, the talking, the venting, the advice, but I’m not. Not in the least.

It helps, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not a vent my feelings type of guy. That’s not me. Why do you think it took so long to figure out my fear of water came from a repressed memory of nearly drowning?

“How have you been, Case? You cancelled our last appointment. That had me a little concerned.” My therapist is a middle-aged man, who is balding on top of his head and has the thickest glasses I’ve ever seen. He’s the poster child for the opposite of me, but he’s been in my corner since I was a kid...even did phone calls until I came back to Savannah.

“Concerned? I had just come off of a third shift. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but now look at us. You missed me so much you squeezed me in on a Sunday.”

“But other than that, everything is well?” He adjusts his glasses, ignoring my attempt at humor.

“Actually, yeah, for the most part.”

“You don’t seem so sure.” He scribbles something on his notepad.

“Why do you say that?”

“You are fidgeting and your answer wasn’t definitive. I’ve worked with you a long time, Case. I know how to judge your answers.”

He’s right. I’m normally the yes and no man. Yes. No. Yes. No. Never “for the most part.”

“I had the nightmare again,” I admit.

“I see. How long has it been since your last?”

“Years. I thought I had gotten past it.” I have the same nightmare every time. Drowning except this time, no one saves me. I die, and it’s fucking terrifying.

“Case, until someone can truly overcome something that haunts them, it will continue to haunt them.”

He’s been preaching this to me forever.

“I know. Overcome. Don’t let a traumatic event define you and your life,” I recite the sentence with ease, having heard it ten thousand times.

“And mostly, I think you’re doing just that. Overcoming and not letting what happened to you win, but you allow these flashes in. That’s what we will start working on next time.”

He closes his notebook and places it aside.

“Now that our formal hour is up, how’s work? How’s your family?” He takes off his glasses and rubs his hand down his face.

I relax back on the sofa, resting my left ankle on my right knee. “Work is great. You know I love my job, and now that I have Arya with me full time, it’s even better. As far as family goes, they’ve never been better. I hope to get back up to Tennessee to see them soon.”

“I hope you do as well. And your personal life? Sweeping any ladies off their feet?”

Nora. Fucking Nora immediately pops into my head. The one woman who doesn’t want to be swept is the only woman I can think about.

“Ah, you know me, there are always potentials falling at my feet.”

“That arrogance will bite you in the ass one day when the right girl comes along and makes you fall at HER feet.”

Once again...all I see is Nora’s face.

Fuck.

Nora

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