Trust by Sherri Hayes Page B

Perkins’s door opened, drawing our attention. “Good morning, Anna.”
    I swallowed, trying to push down the fear.
    When I stepped forward, Jade touched my arm. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go in with you?”
    I shook my head. No. If I was going to find out what Cal had told Dr. Perkins about Stephan, I had to do it on my own. Didn’t I?
    Dr. Perkins smiled as I walked past her into her office. I took a seat on the couch, the same as I’d done the last two times I’d been there.
    “How are you feeling this morning?”
    I looked up at her and then back down. “Fine.”
    She was quiet for too long, so I glanced up. The frown on her face told me she hadn’t liked my answer. I wasn’t sure what she wanted from me, though. I was fine—for me at least. There was nothing wrong with me physically, and although I was nervous about this meeting, I wasn’t in so much of a panic that I couldn’t think clearly.
    “How about the weekend—did you do anything fun?”
    I shook my head. “No.”
    Dr. Perkins set her notepad aside and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Anna, I feel like something happened last time that I’m not understanding. Can you explain it to me?”
    This was it. I needed to ask what Cal had told her about Stephan.
    I opened my mouth to ask, but no sound came out. My throat was dry, as if I hadn’t had anything to quench my thirst in days.
    “Take your time.”
    Closing my eyes, I fought back the tears that threatened to fall. I reached up and took hold of Stephan’s collar, trying to find the strength I needed. The sound of his voice filled my head as I replayed his letter in my mind. I’d read it so many times over the last five days that I had it memorized. The simple letter might not have meant much to someone else, but it did to me.
    After several minutes, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to look at Dr. Perkins. She hadn’t moved. “What did . . .” The words sounded gravelly, so I cleared my throat. “What did Cal tell you?”
    She tilted her head to the side, and her brow furrowed in confusion. “What did Cal tell me about what?”
    Holding tighter to the collar around my neck, I felt it dig into my skin. “Stephan.”
    “The only thing I know about Stephan is what you’ve told me and your friend Cal’s reaction to him the first day you were here. Were you concerned he’d spoken to me independently about him?”
    I nodded.
    “And that upsets you.”
    I nodded again.
    “Anna, even if your friends had told me something about Stephan, it wouldn’t matter. This is about you, and whoever Stephan is, he’s obviously important to you.”
    We sat in silence for a long time. She appeared to be waiting for me to say something. I decided to take a chance. That was what I was here for after all. “He saved me.”
    Dr. Perkins sat back in her chair. “What do you mean when you say he saved you ?”
    I didn’t answer right away. Even though she said everything we talked about would remain between us, I couldn’t risk putting Stephan in danger by admitting anything that could hurt him. “He took me into his home . . . after. He helped me.”
    “Ah. So you feel grateful to him. Protective of him since he helped you.”
    “Yes.” I wasn’t sure I should tell her that I loved him. That felt like a betrayal somehow.
    “That’s understandable. And your friend Cal doesn’t like him. That has to be difficult for you.”
    “Yes. I . . .” I took another breath in and let it out slowly. “I don’t like it when they fight.”
    She raised her eyebrows in question, and I realized she wanted me to elaborate.
    “They argue a lot.”
    “What do they argue about?”
    “Me.”
    “Ah. So you get put in the middle.”
    I nodded.
    “How does that make you feel, when they put you in the middle?”
    “Cal makes me angry.”
    Dr. Perkins wrote something down and then refocused on me. “Just Cal? Not Stephan?”
    I nodded.
    “Why is that?”
    “Cal