Page 73 of Isabelle & Jason
Isabelle squeezed more tears from her eyes. “Yes, I do. I’ve been terrible.”
“You’ve been going through a lot.”
“I haven’t?—”
“Isabelle,” her friend admonished, “don’t cheapen the experiences you went through by comparing them with others. Each of our souls is different. We have different strengths and different weaknesses. Some of us can barrel through the worst kinds of torture while others have a gentler spirit.”
She snickered despite herself. “That’s just a nice way of saying I’m a weak link in the grand scheme of things.”
“No,” Charlie said firmly. “Because where you see weakness, we can all see strength. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I’d gone through what you have. None of us does. I’m a firm believer that we’re never given more than we can handle, and if this is where you meet your personal threshold, then own it.Conquerit.”
Charlie reached over and took Isabelle’s hand in hers. She squeezed reassuringly. “You’ll get through this. Make no mistake. You’re strong. Stronger than you might realize. And asking for help doesn’t mean that you’re any less of a person. In fact, I’m a firm believer that asking for help is what makes us strong.”
Her words rang through the quiet room with a sense of finality. Goosebumps clawed from beneath her skin, sending shivers through the rest of her body. It would take some getting used to, but maybe Charlie was right.
Maybe the only way to get to a better place was to finally accept some help from someone else—someone who wouldn’t judge and who could talk her through every scar and emotional wound that Isabelle had allowed to fester.
“Jason gave me a card for someone.”
Charlie stilled but didn’t speak.
“A therapist,” Isabelle clarified. “Maybe I should make an appointment.”
“Only when you’re ready.” Her friend didn’t know how much those words meant to her. This whole time, she’d been told she needed todosomething, to get help. Even Charlie had said as much before.
Now, it almost felt right. Because Isabelle was making the decision on her own. She’d gotten to the point where she could see how she was hurting others. She’d pushed Jason away. She’d pushed her family and friends away. While she might have been coasting the last few weeks as she worked through the anxiety of seeing Dillan again, she wasn’t healing.
She hadn’t been ready.
Until now.
27
Jason
Jason glanced up when the door to the café opened and smiled. This was the first time his brother and sister had visited him at his new job, and he’d ensured he’d be able to take a break so they could have lunch together.
He nodded toward one of the half a dozen tables they had in the café. “I’ll bring out the sandwiches in a minute.”
Mathew and Penny wasted no time in taking a seat, and he got to work. Once the sandwiches were finished, he wrapped them in paper and brought them out to his siblings. “The sourdough was baked this morning.” He offered each of them an Italian sandwich.
The small table barely allowed for the three of them to sit together, but he made it work. Jason eyed his sister, more than a little tempted to ask her if she’d heard from Isabelle.
He already knew what she’d say, though. There were too many laws when it came to patient confidentiality. He wouldn’t hear the end of it if he did ask. She’d once told him thatthe intent to set up an appointment was enough to lock that information up tight.
Penny stared right back, her face a mask of unreadability. She probably knew exactly what he was curious about. Isabelle had been an ongoing conversation ever since she’d come into his life. Mathew could have lost his license for the things he’d agreed to do to help when Jason had dropped her off.
That situation might have been one of the reasons Mathew had left his job in the city. Jason shifted his attention to his brother as that thought crossed his mind. Mathew had never mentioned the reasons for relocating. Not explicitly. He would have said something if Jason had been part of the reason, right?
“So.” Mathew cleared his throat and gestured to the café. “This is nice. I didn’t think you had it in you to enter the restaurant biz again.”
“This isn’t exactly a restaurant.”
“You serve food. I’d say that’s close enough.”
Jason huffed. “Not hardly. It’s more like a bakery that serves more than baked goods.”
“Yeah.” Mathew snickered. “A restaurant.”
