Epilogue
Christmas week
The problem with finally getting Darius talking was that Darius wouldn’t stop talking.
“Dad doesn’t want me to follow in Mom’s footsteps, of course.
He’s all, danger danger blah blah blah. But come on, you never know when you’re going to end up knee deep in trouble and wouldn’t it be better to know how to do stuff than not?
I’ve been working out anyway, and no, it’s not just so that my friends won’t know I’m not a shifter.
I’m not doing dumb protein powders or drugs or anything, so he ought to be happy for me, and I know he’s just trying to protect me because he loves me, but guh, it gets so old. ”
Bruno finally found a gap in the flow to step into. “I gotta wrap this up, Darius. I have another client I need to see in just a few minutes and can I be honest?”
“Yeah, sure.” Darius shrugged easily. Everything about him was easy now. He was more comfortable in his skin, and less shuttered.
Bruno was confident about his assessment. “I don’t think you need to see me any more, at least not in this capacity. Once you were willing to do the work, it got done. You gave your feelings the space they deserved and learned how to handle them.”
Darius looked at him in surprise, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. I guess I did.”
“My kind of help isn’t meant to be a permanent crutch.
It’s a cast, and casts come off when you’ve healed enough.
I’m really proud of your progress and I’ll be happy to see you again any time you feel like you need an ear or a kick in the ass, but it sounds like you’ve got a busy social schedule and if you’ve got stuff to take up with your dad, that’s who you should be taking it up with. ”
Darius chuckled. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Doc Martin. I…this was alright.” They both stood and Darius thrust out his hand to shake before Bruno could offer a hug. “See you around.”
“See you around,” Bruno echoed, shaking his hand firmly.
Darius grabbed his backpack from the couch and slung it over a shoulder. “Later.” Then he was bounding out the door.
Bruno checked his text messages and confirmed that he’d be picking Tara and Franzi up when he got Gil from kindergarten.
It worked comfortably in his flexible schedule and he knew that Vivian and Logan were both very grateful they didn’t have to take off from work to do it anymore.
He considered them both friends now and was sometimes astonished by how much his circle of trust had widened since the events of a scant few weeks prior.
Shared trauma, he thought wryly. But it was more than that. His self-inflicted isolation had been based in doubt and mistrust. Clarice was the anchor he’d needed to believe in himself again.
He took a moment to review his notes on the next client thoughtfully, schooling his attention to this new puzzle of a person.
Her file was sparse; their previous sessions had been full of small talk and evasion and her answers were too pat.
She was a master of self-delusion and was clearly in a survival mode of some sort.
Bruno went into any case gently, and he was beginning to wonder if something more forward would be necessary to get results.
After he’d refreshed himself on the details she’d shared last time, he went to open his door and walk to the lobby.
“Miss Chase,” he greeted her. “Come on back.”