It's Complicated: A Reservations Story

Clear plastic covered each suit, but he still worried about gunk and dirt getting on his new clothes. There was a small fortune in clothing sitting in his living room.

“Keep your grimy hands off the material,” Beckett called out through the closed bedroom door then headed into his bathroom.

Chapter 4

Three days later

“Whenever you’re ready, Julian.”

Several days had passed since the “incident”. A term Julian coined to describe whatever the hell had happened to him a few mornings ago, but the revealing pieces of the flashback still haunted him. He’d honestly rather forget about the “incident” than acknowledge the extreme panic and anxiety those little bombs of revelation had caused.

Julian stood at the window, staring out at the tranquil scene of a small flower garden right outside the office of his counselor, Sarah Campbell. He found it soothing to watch nature do its thing.

Most of his sessions were done just like this. It gave him a sense of calm. Something about the green grass and pretty blooms spoke to his heart. The birdbath, where actual birds frolicked, made him feel healthy and whole. A displaced memory from his youth tried to form, but it never fully materialized.

“You’re pushing,” Julian finally answered, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned to stare at the older woman sitting nearby. His shrink, who’d been working with him since the...

Why did he struggle to call his assault an abduction?

His ironclad internal protective barriers slammed down in place, not allowing Julian to dig any deeper as to why he struggled to verbalize the truth.

Sarah looked like she always did: a patient, kind, well put together person. He often wondered if that was a facade or whether she, in fact, led a basically normal life.

“We’re thirty minutes into your session, and I’ve stared at your back the entire time.”

Julian lifted his gaze to the clock on the shelf, surprised at the time. He hadn’t spoken a single word since he’d entered her office. But he felt calmer than he had in days and didn’t want to spoil the peace building inside his soul.

He lifted a hand to carefully touch the goose egg on the back of his head. It was smaller now, but more painful.

His gaze narrowed as his defenses zeroed in on Sarah, hoping to get a rise out of her rather than have her focus on him. “It’s the ass, right? My bubble butt slays. Men and women alike pant after it.”

Julian twisted his waist to let her see his ass from a side angle, his hand sweeping past to show it off while watching her closely. Her passive facade never cracked. Not ever. She lowered her head to write something on the pad of paper in her lap. She was real old school. She didn’t believe in technology or electronics; she considered them a privacy issue and avoided them as best she could.

“If this is how you’d like to spend the last fifteen minutes of your time, that’s your call, but I’d like to know more about your injury. What happened?” Her keen gaze lifted back to Julian.

He stayed rooted in his spot, crossing his arms over his chest again as he said, “The dog you insisted I get has bladder problems, or he’s a new breed of nocturnal animal. Why does he always need to go outside in the early morning hours, right before dawn? Do all dogs do that?”

She nodded to the chair across from her, encouraging him over. “I’ve told you the service animal was only an experiment. They aren’t for everyone. You don’t have to keep him.”

“I like to think of Woofer as a stray. You know, like I’m saving him from the streets. Makes me like him more,” Julian replied, taking the few steps to the chair, landing his ass on the soft cushion. He crossed one leg over the other, mimicking her pose. “Honestly, I thought service animals were trained beasts, docile to their core. If that’s the case, mine’s defective. And costing me an arm and a leg. I work too much. I’m paying people to walk him every day. Woofer has play dates. He’s popular. All these dogs and their owners want to play with him. His schedule’s busier than mine. And he’s eating me out of house and home…”

“You’re making him into a pet, not a service animal. We’ve talked about all this. Tell me what’s happened, before our time bleeds over into someone else’s appointment.”

He bit his lip as he tried to fight the grin forming. He counted it a win when she used her schoolteacher tone with him. “Let’s jump to the end then. I’ll tell you what I think happened to me. Then you’ll say that’s very enlightened of me. Then we won’t really speak of the guy because I’m not open to exploring anything more with him. Sound like a plan?”