Come Back To Me

“Dr. Wood’s office” The chirpy voice answered the phone.

“Hello Cassy, it’s Brian. Is Norelle free?” Brian asked promptly.

“Yes one minute, I’ll tell her you’re on the phone. It will just be a minute, she just finished up an appointment a few minutes ago.”

“Thanks.”

He was only waiting for a few moments before the sound of his girlfriend’s voice came through the receiver.

“Hi Babe” she said happily, making Brian smile. She always made him smile.

“Hi. I was calling to tell you that I can’t come in today. I have some stuff to do for work.”

“Brian Haner! You can’t skip again.” She scolded, “You missed the week before last too! You’re never going to get better unless you start coming to your sessions.”

“I’ve been in physical therapy for over a year, I think I’m better. I can write and drive, I think that’s pretty much all I need. Don’t scold me, this is work, I have to.”

“Brian, you almost died in that accident, you should be thanking your lucky stars that you’ve regained as much mobility as you have. And you can’t keep that mobility unless you keep coming to therapy. It’s important and I don’t want to be pushing you around in a wheelchair.”

He rolled his eyes and gave an over-exaggerated sigh, “Elle, I’ll come in tomorrow if it makes you feel better. But this is an important meeting.”

“What am I going to do with you?” She asked in a fake annoyed voice.

“Well, you could go to dinner with me tonight” He said and she laughed. “Sweet game, right?” He asked, proud of his seamless transition.

“Always. I’m out of the office at five and then I have to shower and get dressed. So I’ll come by your place at like six thirty and we can go from there?”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then babe.”

“All right” She said, and he could hear the smile in her voice, “I love you.”

“Love you too” He said with a smile and the hung up his phone and continued to drive to his business meeting, looking forward to the night ahead.

**

“Good afternoon Zack.” Dr. Wright said warmly as Zacky walked into the office.

“It’s Zacky, Dr. Wright. “ He corrected as he sat down in the armchair opposite his doctors. He had been going to Dr. Wright for the past two years and she had yet to call him Zacky. For reasons unknown to him, she refused to be even a little bit personal with him. She was an amazing doctor, that much was true. And he had grown a lot and overcame a few of his PTSD related problems…but he still couldn’t sleep alone which was the one thing he wanted the most. He missed Hollis. Plain and simple.

He missed her calling him Zacky.
He missed her hugging him when he started to cry.
He missed the fact that she never took notes as he talked.
He missed…everything about her.

“So what would you like to talk about today Zack?” She asked, scribbling something on her notebook, without him even saying anything.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think I have anything left to talk about.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

He shrugged again. “I mean…it’s been years. And nothing has really changed.”

“Do you think that you’re done with therapy?”

He shook his head. “I can’t even freaking sleep alone! Still. It’s been over two years and I haven’t been able to spend a night alone! I’m still a burden on Brian and my sister. Brian’s had a girlfriend for almost a year and when she stays over they both have to sleep in the room with me. They can’t even have a decent night together. And my sister was offered a really good job in San Diego but she can’t take it because it’s two hours away and she doesn’t want to be too far away in case I need her. Don’t you get it?! I’m not fixed but you’re not fixing me!” He snapped, his irritation finally surfacing.

She was scribbling furiously and that just furthered his irritation.

“Can you just stop writing? Hollis never wrote while I talked.”

It was the first time in over a year that Zacky had mentioned Hollis in a session and at the mention of her name Ava’s head shot up and met eyes with him. His eyes were both angry and sad. She could tell that he missed her in that moment, even though in his earlier sessions he had told her that he hated her for what she had done.

“That’s just the way Dr. Thompson does her sessions. I prefer to write during. Why is that a problem?”

“It just…is.”

“Do you feel like if you were still Dr. Thompson’s patient that you would be “fixed” now? Do you think you would be able to sleep alone?”

He nodded.

“Why do you think that?”

“Hollis…she cared. She let me know that. I…I wanted to open up to her. She made me want to be better.”

“Zack. I do not know why you and Dr. Thompson ended your doctor patient relationship, but I am your doctor now and I want you to feel as if I care, because I do care about you. Do you think I don’t want you to get better?”

He shrugged. “No. I don’t think that.”

“Zacky. Why can’t you sleep alone? When did it start? If that is what you want to be able to do, then that’s what we will work on for the next few weeks. But…our time is up and I’m sorry that our session had to end on a rather unhappy note. But I will see you next week, right?”

He nodded and stood. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right, we all get annoyed and upset. I’ll see you next week.”

“Thanks” He said and left the office, glad that the time ran out so he could get out of the incredibly awkward situation.

He walked into the lobby, not paying attention to his surroundings. He was deep in thought when he ran straight into someone as they were coming into the office. He snapped out of his daze and looked down at the person he had just run into. She was short, at least six inches shorter than him and her red hair was long and wavy. She was cute, Zacky could tell that much.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” He apologized quickly.

“It’s okay.” She said with a smile, her green eyes sparkling as they met his own. “I should have been paying better attention.” She had a slight Irish accent and Zacky smiled about how adorable she was. “I’m Colleen.”

“Zacky.” He said and they shook hands.

They were about to part ways when he heard her voice again. “Wait a second.”

He turned around to see her turning slightly red, looking embarrassed or nervous. “I don’t normally do this. But…would you like to get coffee or something sometime?”

He smiled, “Well I have to say that I’ve never had a girl as me out. And I would love to get coffee with you. “

She smiled and exhaled, “Thank goodness. I would feel really foolish if you had said no.” She handed him her phone, “Put your number in.”

He took the phone from her and typed in his number and pressed the “TALK” button, calling his own phone so he could get her number as well.

“I’ll call you” He said with a smile.

“I would like that” She smiled and then retreated back into the office while waving goodbye.

Zacky looked down at his phone and saved her number with a smile as he climbed into his car and drove back to his house to tell Brian.