Stealing Promises by Brina Courtney

Claire had put a deposit down on the place. It seemed like things are finally falling back into place, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t need Kate or her family anymore. She appreciated their support and affection. Occasionally at night in the dark when the nightmares threatened to take her again she thought of them, and sometimes she thought of Levi.
    After a restless first night’s sleep at the apartment, Victoria picked up her phone to call Kate. She needed advice on how to handle the questions. The questions she knew people would ask her as to why she was starting her last semester at a new school. Only a few of her friends from her old school had contacted her and wished her well but no one had made any real effort. It just went to show how much she wasn’t really involved at school, it was just her and Levi and Claire. Nothing else mattered before but now the Victoria was about to go back to school, she wanted to make her mark on the world. She wanted to be remembered.
    But when Kate answered the phone what she said was not at all what Victoria expected.
    Kate took a deep breath and Victoria immediately knew that whatever she was about to say she wouldn’t like. “There is a group on campus,” she paused, “a grief counseling group. I think it would be good for you to go.”
    Victoria couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Intensive therapy with Kate was one thing, but going to a group focused on the deaths of people who she didn’t even know? It didn’t make any sense to her.  Why would they sit around and talk to people that they hardly knew? How could she confide in these people about someone so special to her? Victoria had learned that there weren’t many relationships like she and Levi’s. There were so many deep feelings there that Victoria had finally started to recover from. She didn’t think bringing them up to the surface again would be a good idea. This isn’t the way she wanted to make a mark on her new campus. “No way, Kate! I can’t believe you would even suggest that. That’s not how to make friends. Besides I thought you said I was doing so well.”
    She could hear Kate sigh at the other end of the line, “You are doing well. But wouldn’t it be great to have friends who understand? Sometimes people going through extreme grief don’t act like everybody else; they don’t always display typical behaviors. It would be great for you to have other people to discuss those times with. I think it would be good for you to have other people to support you. And people for you to support.”
    So that’s what this was about; Kate was moving on with her new client. This was her way of telling Victoria she wouldn’t be around as much. So that in her mind, Victoria would be looked after. But that wasn’t her job anymore.  Victoria had figured things out on her own and she would make it without this group. “I’m making it. You should be able to see that and not force me into something I don’t want to do.”
    “ Every time I’ve forced you to do something it’s been for your own good, and so far they’ve all been successful.” Kate shot back.
    She had a point there, even if Victoria didn’t want to admit it.
    “I just think it might be a good idea for you. And you know I can actually make you go, part of being a therapist. Your parents don't pay me the big bucks to sit around and watch you screw up.”
    “ You think I'm screwing up? What the hell have you been doing?  Watching me screw up this whole time?” Victoria could hear the bite in her voice but she didn’t care. She was realizing that so many times you hurt the people you love the most; it was a risk of being close. “And you take my parents money because it's your job. Don't act like you hang out with me because it's fun.”
    The phone went silent for a moment before Kate whispered, “Do you really believe that?”
    Victoria stopped, still annoyed but less angry, “Don't shrink me now.”
    Then Kate persisted,