The Rift (4 page)

Momma’s eyes narrowed for the briefest
moment, before she put her sad face back on and shook her head.
“I’d love that, sweetie, you know I would, but April is an
incredibly busy month for me at work and with planning the
wedding…” She gave a quick glance at Henry and the therapist. “Why
don’t we chat after I get home and work something out? I don’t have
my calendar with me.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll have my people
call your people.” The game was done and I knew Momma had no
intention of inviting me for a visit or to the wedding. She’d have
to tell Ronald about me eventually, but having me at the wedding
would be too much for her. Too many people remembered me as the
girl who talked to ghosts, and she wouldn’t want Ronald or anyone
else to be reminded of her connection to me.

“Oh, Kelsey,” Momma said, her southern drawl
becoming more pronounced. “I don’t know why you have to be so rude
to me.”

And she was right, I didn’t have to be so
rude to her. I had my moments of anger and resentment, but I
understood her desire for distance. My dad disappearing when I was
eight and me with my bizarre abilities had been hard on her. “I’m
sorry, Momma. I was making a joke. It wasn’t funny.”

Henry gave my calf a squeeze. “Let me tell
you Mrs. Fitzhugh, I think you raised an amazing girl, here. I just
feel so lucky to have her in my life.”

I smiled at Henry and tears pricked my eyes.
My mother beamed at him and forgot to be angry at me.

Doctor Veronica, a woman not much older than
me, with wild, curly auburn hair and a perpetual frown, cleared her
throat. “Perhaps now would be a good time for me to speak to Kelsey
alone, to prepare her for the intervention. If you two wouldn’t
mind giving us some space?”

Henry leapt up and offered my mother a hand.
“It’s a beautiful day, how about a walk around the grounds?” he
asked in a mock formal tone.

My mother stood and smiled at him, looking
like she might be falling in love. I considered making a comment to
that effect but thought better of it. Henry and my mother vanished
outside, leaving me alone with Dr. Veronica Thenier.

“I know we haven’t gotten off to a good
start, Kelsey. But I’m here to help you. Your friends are worried
about you. Yvonne will have to consider restricting your activities
even more if you can’t allow me to help you deal with your drinking
problem.”

When Dr. Veronica said we’d gotten off on the
wrong foot, she was referring to our first fifteen sessions, during
which I said not one word. I might have signed a contract to work
for Varius, but I hadn’t given them the rights to my private
thoughts, or my issues. I didn’t trust Dr. Veronica not to go
running back to Yvonne Forrester if I said the wrong thing. I
didn’t want to talk to Doctor Veronica, but I couldn’t afford to
have my activities at Varius restricted any further than they
already were, and maybe talking to her would convince Tucker to
stop nagging me. As for my other friends worrying about me, Jed,
Angelica, and Thad hadn’t said a word to me in over a month and a
half, beyond a hello in passing, and I seriously doubted they cared
if I was a raging alcoholic or not. I barely considered them
friends any more. If I talked to the doctor for anyone, I would do
it for Tucker and Henry. I would do it to earn some trust with
Yvonne and get out of that ridiculous intervention.

I sensed a ghostly presence and looked around
for Tucker to see how he thought I should handle things, but
instead I saw Houston standing in a dark corner behind the
therapist. He wasn’t behind the second curtain, which meant he
wanted me to see him. Houston was a two-hundred-and-sixty-year-old
reaper who had an odd habit of teaming up with whatever reaper was
trying to cause trouble in my life. I raised my eyebrows to let him
know I’d seen him and ask him what he was doing, but the asshole
just winked and vanished. I didn’t like that at all.

“Is this house warded?” I asked.

Dr. Veronica froze in her seat. Oh, goody,
the doc was afraid of reapers. That could be fun. “The bedrooms are
warded, but we wanted Tucker here for the intervention, so we
didn’t ward the kitchen or living area. Did you see someone?”

I narrowed my eyes at a spot over her right
shoulder. “I’m not sure. I just feel that we aren’t alone…”

“I…I thought you could see them,” she
said.

“I can’t see them if they’re watching us from
behind the second curtain.” I lied to her, because no one was
supposed to be able to see beyond the second curtain, and I saw no
good reason to tell her I could.

She shivered. “Yes, well, let’s try to stay
focused. Your mother and your friends are here to remind you that
there are people in your life who care about you and who don’t want
to see you hurting. They believe your attachment to alcohol is a
form of self-medication to treat the aftereffects of all the trauma
you’ve experienced. How do you feel about that?”

“Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do
here, but I don’t have a drinking problem. I’ve been bored because
I’ve been assigned jack all to do at Varius. Maybe I’ve been having
a bit more fun than I should, but I can stop. I will stop, if
everyone will get off my case and Yvonne will allow me to start
training.”

The doc shook her head. “No. Sorry, Kelsey,
but it’s not going to be that easy. You’re staying here until
you’re sober and healthy.”

I’d been expecting that, but it still
disappointed me. “Does my mother really have to be here? She’s
going to freak if anyone starts telling her what I’ve been
doing.”

“She’s only here for the night, and everyone
is under orders not to tell her too much. I’ll drive her back home
tomorrow.”

“Good. So this is just a one day thing,
then?”

Dr. Veronica’s frown became slightly less
severe, the closest I’d seen her come to a smile. “Oh, no, Kelsey.
The intervention is just a one day thing, but you’re going to have
to stay here for at least a few weeks. You need to detox and
recover.”

“A few weeks?” I asked. Those weeks stretched
out before me like an eternity trapped in that house and forced to
face memories and emotions I much preferred to keep locked
away.

“Exactly. After the intervention tomorrow,
your mother and Thad will leave. Henry and Jed will stay here to
act as guards, but they’ll be allowed only the most limited contact
with you. I would have preferred to have guards who don’t know you
at all, but I was…overruled.”

I groaned and fell back against the couch
cushions. I didn’t have any choice but to go along, and it looked
like I would have even less freedom there than I’d had at Varius.
At least at Varius I could go out dancing or go for a run.

“Kelsey, I think your drinking is a sign that
you are suffering from a stress disorder and, because I’ve been
given such a short time to help you, our work together will have to
be intense. This is going to be difficult and painful and, in order
for it to work, you have to want to get better. You have to agree
to do what I ask, okay?”

I wanted to explain to her that it was all
just a misunderstanding. I’d only actually gotten drunk once in the
last two months. Every other time it had appeared I’d gotten drunk
had just been a show, to prevent anyone wondering what Henry and I
were doing together outside of the apartment complex. When people
saw me dancing on tables at the club, they assumed I’d been there
all night. Not to mention it was fun. I loved going out dancing
with Henry, and the energy he and Tucker pulled from me with their
touching sessions and with the…other things we were doing, made me
act and feel a bit lightheaded and woozy anyway. I could hardly
explain all of that to Doctor Veronica, though. And, as much as I
wanted to fight her and tell her I didn’t need or want her therapy,
I knew I did. Even though my nightmares had stopped, I’d been
feeling afraid all the time and I wasn’t happy. I knew something
was wrong, and I was tired of feeling weak and helpless. Not that
it mattered whether I needed it or not, if I didn’t agree to go
along with her therapy I’d be on complete lockdown at Varius and
then I’d really lose my mind. I’d play along, but I’d be damned if
I’d tell her anything she didn’t already know. “Fine. I’ll do what
you ask, and I’ll go along with your therapy plan.”

Her smile drooped and she studied me for a
long moment, probably trying to figure out why I’d conceded so
easily after months of resistance. I just gave her my best sweet,
innocent smile and shrugged.

“Okay, then,” she said. “If it’s all right
with you, I’d like to start immediately. There’s a bedroom in the
back of the house that has been designated for our sessions. No one
will bother us there.”

I followed her back to the bedroom where I
spent the next hour talking about and reliving all of the bad
things I’d seen in the past six months, starting with Landon, my
dead boss who’d tried to replace my soul with his own so that he
could live a second life in my body. When I emerged from that room,
I felt mentally exhausted and raw. I wasn’t at all sure I could
actually handle therapy.

I was sitting on the porch with Henry,
rocking the afternoon away, my stomach full of a hearty lunch, when
Thad pulled up in a beat-up old truck. A little thrill of happiness
zinged through me when he smiled and waved, and I hurried down the
stairs to greet him properly, ignoring the slight tinge of pain in
my foot. Thad was the only one of my friends who’d had a good
excuse for not talking to me the last couple of months. He’d been
working, and I was pretty sure Yvonne had blocked any attempts at
communication between us.

Thad leapt out of the truck, grabbed me up in
a big bear hug, and spun me around. I couldn’t help shrieking. He
laughed and set me down on my feet, then leaned in and kissed me
before I realized what he was doing. He pushed my mouth open gently
with his own and tried to deepen the kiss, but I shoved him
away.

Henry was already off the porch and next to
us. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” he said in a wooden
tone. His attempt at sounding angry only made him sound like a
robot. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing and
reminded myself to be serious. If anyone found out that Henry and I
weren’t a real couple they’d want to know why we were pretending,
and we hadn’t come up with a good answer to that question.

Thad looked from me to Henry with raised
eyebrows. Henry was trying his best to look angry, but he just
looked slightly constipated. Thad’s attention moved from me and
Henry to a spot over my shoulder and his smile drooped but, when I
looked, no one was on the porch or in the doorway. We were alone,
and I wondered if Houston had shown himself to Thad, too. If
Houston had seen Thad’s kiss and Henry’s forced anger, he would
suspect something. I needed to fix that, but I wasn’t any better at
lying than Henry.

“Um, Thad, this is my boyfriend, Henry. Henry
this is Thad.” I wrapped an arm around Henry’s waist and pulled him
close.

Thad slapped Henry on the shoulder. “Sorry
about kissing your girl, man. I haven’t seen her in a while, and I
missed her.” The heat in his tone and in his eyes when he looked at
me made my belly flip-flop. “I didn’t know she had
a…boyfriend.”

Henry let out a sigh of relief. He and I had
been pretending to be lovers for ten weeks, but it hadn’t required
any real acting until that moment. Mostly, we’d just had to be very
touchy and spend a lot of time together. I’d had no idea what a
terrible actor Henry was. “I can understand,” Henry said, squeezing
me tight. “Kelsey is really…hot. Just, um, just don’t let it happen
again.”

Thad looked at me, eyebrows raised, mirth
obvious on his face. “Would you mind helping me with my bags,
Henry?”

“Oh, yeah, no problem.” Henry smiled,
appearing relieved to be done playing the angry boyfriend.

I returned to my seat on the porch and
watched them. Angelica came out and sat in the rocking chair next
to me.

They took the bags inside and returned
moments later, laughing together. “Henry tells me this intervention
thing isn’t until tonight, so we’re going to go see what kind of
trouble we can get into back in town,” Thad said. “We invited Jed,
but he says he has to stay here to keep you ladies safe.”

I dreamed of a day when I didn’t need to be
guarded, when everyone believed I could defend myself. I stood and
gave Henry a peck on the lips. I tried to deepen it into a real
kiss, to put to rest any questions Thad might have, but Henry
didn’t get what I was trying to do and pulled away too quickly. “We
won’t be gone long,” he said.

“Okay, have fun.” They jumped down the stairs
and got into Thad’s truck, laughing like they were best
buddies.

“Henry seems like a good guy,” Angelica said,
when I sat back down.

“He is.” I hated lying to my friends, but
lying to Angelica was difficult on a whole other level. She’d been
a good friend to me, once, and I missed our closeness. Lies only
increased the distance between us.

“I’m sorry I haven’t come around to see you,
Kelsey. I was so sad and confused, and I blamed you for everything
that happened. I thought if I’d never met you, Bruce would still be
alive. Then Jed explained how everything went down, and I felt
awful.”

“Jed?” I couldn’t imagine why Jed would
bother talking to Angelica about me.

She nodded, her gaze distant, her thoughts
somewhere else. “Yeah, he explained that Bruce was…targeted,
because of his family and not because of you. They would have gone
after Bruce even if you had never lived in Briarton. I should have
stopped over to see you as soon as he told me, but I…I just
didn’t.” She looked at me and bit her lip. “I’m really sorry,
Kelsey. I saw you with Henry and you looked so happy. I thought you
were doing well, and I didn’t…I didn’t want to bring you down.”