Chapter 22 - Part 2

                                    

                                          
The man across from Jessica looked at her expectantly with his pen on the notepad. It felt so wrong to open up about her innermost secrets to a stranger, no matter how much Charlie had assured her it would help.
It took all of her strength to begin to open up, little by little, and before she knew it the session had come to an end.
"I'll see you next week at the same time," the very qualified shrink said.
"That's fine," she murmured, standing up. "Thanks."
She left the office feeling unsettled, but Charlie was waiting for her and he stood as she entered the room.
"And how did it go?" he asked as he led her out.
She shrugged. After talking to the shrink for the last hour, she didn't feel like opening up about anything. It wasn't like there had been a lot of time to get into all the heavy stuff, but it had enough for her to feel a little drained emotionally.
It happened every time she was forced to think back to Dylan's suicide and the fallout afterward.
When she didn't answer, Charlie stopped her with a concerned look. "Did everything go okay? Dr. Reed comes highly recommended."
She nodded. "It was fine. It's just that I've been talking for an hour and I'm kinda all talked out."
"That's fine." Charlie was always so understanding, and she wondered why of all the guys she could have fallen for it hadn't been him. Loving him would have been so easy.
But she had fallen for Myles. It had started under the stars the night in the pool. He had been the one who had stolen her heart, without her realizing it until it was too late.
That afternoon she was feeling out of sorts and was desperate to feel closer to Myles. She couldn't contact him, so she decided to try something else.
She put her swimsuit on and headed to the pool. Charlie was busy in his office with a conference call, so she would have some time on her own. She shivered as she got in slowly, hating the coolness of the water, but after a few minutes her body adjusted and she began to warm up.
Then she lay on her back and looked up at the sky. The water was silent and although it wasn't as beautiful as a starlit sky, it was pretty nonetheless, with the clouds slowly drifting across her vision. It was easy to block everything out other than the sky above.
She sighed, feeling she was connecting in a way she couldn't explain with Myles. It provided some peace within the chaos that had saturated her the last couple of days.
Feeling calmer, she closed her eyes and floated on the surface of the pool feeling like she was finally alone. There was no one watching over her waiting for her to flip out or do something hysterical. 
She had been under a tremendous amount of stress and it was nice to feel like she could shut out the world even if it was only for a little while.
Feeling a little more in control, she allowed her feet to move down to touch the ground before moving to stand. Charlie was sitting on the porch step with a beer watching her with a puzzled look. 
She hadn't been alone at all.
"You okay?" he asked, watching her with a guarded look.
She nodded, squeezing the excess water from her hair before moving to the side of the pool closest to him. She folded her arms on the edge and rested her chin on top of them while gently kicking her legs in the water.
"Yeah," she murmured, understanding his concern even though at times it felt suffocating. "I'm sorry for everything, Charlie."
"You scared me."