Relief fills me. I like that answer … I like it a lot. “If you want to make me happy, Josh, can you please not take cocaine again,” I murmur into his chest.
“Don’t worry about that. I scared the hell out of myself. I will never touch the shit again.”
“And Cam, can you tell him not to do it either,” I ask.
He bends and kisses my neck, “Stop worrying presh. Cameron is a big boy and he is only young. I’m not being a fun cop for him.”
“Well I’m going to be and I don’t care what you say,” I scowl.
He raises an eyebrow at me in silent disapproval but keeps his opinion to himself.
“You don’t think I should work for six months to secure a good job before we leave?” I question.
“No,” he answers deadpan. “I don’t want you doing sexual psychology at all Natasha.” I frown and step back from him in question.
“Tash, I don’t want you dealing with sexually fucked-up deviants that are just dying to bang you and add you to their sex addiction,” he replies flatly as he takes a sip of his water.
“Is that a joke?” I snap. “How dare you say that to me? I did six fucking years at university, Joshua. It is my chosen career and you will have no say in what I do!” I snap. He raises his eyebrows in a silent dare and sits on the bed. “We’ll see.”
I scowl at him and head into the bathroom. He’s bloody lucky he’s in hospital because I feel like chucking a total wobbly right now. I take my time going to the bathroom while trying to calm my anger and reminding myself about compromise. When I come out there is a young man sitting in the chair next to Joshua’s bed.
He stands. “Hi, I’m Peter. I’m from the rehab team. I will be working with Joshua for the next few days. Joshua just told me you are also a psychologist.”
I fake a smile at Joshua. “Yes I am. Sexual psychologist actually.” Put that in your pipe and smoke it, asshole.
Peter raises his eyebrows, “Wow, interesting line of work.”
I smile again. “Yes, very.” Joshua purses his lips in disapproval. “I will leave you two to it then,” I smile. I give Joshua a brief kiss on the lips and go to head out the door.
“Tash, my mother is coming to take you out for coffee at four.”
My face drops but I quickly recover and smile. “Great, I will look Four O’clock..”
Four o’clock and I am dreading the coffee date like the plague. Margaret smiles like a Cheshire cat on heat as she walks down the corridor toward me.
“Hello, thank you for agreeing to meet me,” she purrs.
My skin prickles in contempt. “I’m only here for Joshua, Margaret. It has nothing to do with you,” I snap. I inwardly cringe because that came out harsher than I intended it to.
She nods nervously. “Right,” she replies. “There is a café across the road. Would that be ok?” she asks. Why in the hell is she being so nice? It’s giving me the creeps.
I nod and we walk to the café in uncomfortable silence. “Max, can you wait outside the café for us?” I ask. He nods and takes a seat on the sidewalk.
Ten minutes later we are seated and waiting for our order without speaking. I have nothing to say to Margaret. Last time I saw her I nearly slapped her face off. I can’t believe I actually hit her. What in the hell is going on with me and the bitch slapping lately? I frown as I try to forget the disturbing thought. Margaret grabs my hand over the table and I bite my lip to stop myself from speaking.
“Natasha … can we please call a truce … for Joshua’s sake.”
I force out a nod. “Margaret, I have never wanted to fight with you. You are the one who hates me.”
“I have never hated you dear. Please understand it from my point of view. My nineteen-year-old son comes home and tells me he’s fallen in love with his seventeen-year-old first cousin. That he has been having sex with her every day for a month and that he is going to marry her.”
I look down and smile as my heart melts. “He said that?” I ask. “He said he wanted to marry me?”
She sits back and frowns. “From that whole sentence that’s the only information you took.”
I nod, embarrassed. “Sorry, carry on.”
“And then, not two weeks later, she sleeps with someone else and breaks his heart and I have to put him on a plane to go to the other side of the world alone … and devastated.”