Page 19

Leah

Leah sat across from her client and tried to stay focused, but it wasn’t easy. Her mind kept wandering from Nova to her mom.

The conversation she’d had with her mom as she drove to work this morning reminded Leah that she needed to find Nova a therapist sooner rather than later.

Her mom said that Nova woke up screaming last night.

She thought that everything that happened over the last couple of days was all a dream.

Leah couldn’t even begin to imagine the torture she must’ve felt in those first few minutes.

To think you were free and back home, only to believe it was all a dream.

Leah’s phone vibrated and chimed when the timer went off. She touched the screen, then flashed Ms. Franklin with her biggest and brightest smile. The one that said it was a pleasure spending this time with you once again . The one that lied to her patients and everyone else.

“Looks like that’s our time.” She stood and adjusted her black pencil skirt.

Ms. Franklin lifted her head, but the rest of her body remained seated.

She brushed the hair of her gray wig from her face.

Each week she wore a different wig. That particular one seemed to be her favorite.

She called it Patti after her favorite singer Patti LaBelle.

She said every time she put it on, she felt sassy like Ms. Patti.

“Oh ... umm ... okay.” She placed her oversize purse on her shoulder.

She refused to set it on the floor beside her chair like Leah’s younger clients did.

Leah knew the moment she met Ms. Franklin that she was a woman who believed in superstitions.

It was nothing she’d done that gave it away.

It was simply the fact that she was an older Black woman from the South.

That meant that Ms. Franklin, like her mother, most likely believed that if she placed her purse on the floor, she’d lose all her money.

All of it was ridiculous to Leah. She’d placed her purse on the floor plenty of times and still had money.

She’d also bought Quinton shoes for Christmas even though Martha said a woman should never buy a man some shoes because then he’d walk .

.. away. She shook away the ridiculous feeling those words caused.

“Ms. Lefleur, I hope whatever is holding your mind hostage sets it free soon. I could tell you weren’t listening at all.” Ms. Franklin used her finger and pushed her glasses closer to her eyes.

“That’s an interesting choice of words,” Leah said. “I’m assuming you’ve watched the news then.”

Ms. Franklin narrowed her eyes. “The news? No, I stopped watching it a long time ago. Nothing on there but killing. I don’t want to see all that.” Ms. Franklin wrinkled her nose like she got a whiff of something awful.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that she chose the word hostage , Leah thought. Which was strange since Leah didn’t believe in coincidences any more than she believed in superstitions.

“I promise to do better next time,” she assured Ms. Franklin, deciding it was best to apologize and move on.

There were many clients who Leah needed more sessions with, but Ms. Franklin wasn’t one of them.

In fact, there were quite a few times when Leah hinted that she didn’t need her services anymore.

All she needed was a group of friends to spend time with.

Her only problem was she was lonely, but according to Ms. Franklin, she didn’t like people and would rather talk with Leah.

The one thing Leah admired was Ms. Franklin being open enough to seek therapy.

Most women her age didn’t believe in it. Her mother was one of them.

After Leah’s dad died, her mom locked herself inside and refused to see anyone or go anywhere, including church.

That was when Leah realized how bad things were.

Martha would go to church on her deathbed if she could, so for her to miss, she had to be in a bad place.

No matter what Leah said, her mom refused to get the help she needed. Over time, Leah gave up.

Leah sat at her desk, her thoughts on Quinton, Nova, and Skye, wondering what each of them were doing and if Quinton and Skye were really handling everything as well as they seemed to be.

There were emails waiting on Leah’s response and charts that needed to be completed, but thinking about work was a task Leah couldn’t force herself to do. So, she gave up.

Once Leah made it to her car, she called Bayou High. “Hi, this is Leah Lefleur. I’m on my way to check Skye out of school. Can you please let her know? Great. Thanks.”

It wasn’t until Leah made it to the school and Skye rushed from the front office that Leah realized she should’ve sent Skye a text to let her know nothing was wrong.

“What happened?” Skye asked.

“Calm down, nothing happened. I’m sorry, I should’ve texted you. I thought we could spend some time together.”

Skye narrowed her eyes. “Really? You’re checking me out of school, and it’s not an emergency? Well, that’s new.”

“Are you saying you’d rather stay?” Leah teased.

Skye walked past Leah and practically sprinted to Leah’s car. “I have to be back before practice, though. You know Coach don’t play.”

“I’ll have you back before last period. How about that?”

“Miss math class? Oh yes.” Skye did a little dance in her seat.

Since their skip day was more like a skip-class day, Leah decided to go around the corner to the ice cream shop instead of driving back to Baton Rouge for lunch. She watched as Skye twirled her spoon through her melting ice cream.

“Something wrong with your ice cream?” Leah asked.

“No, it’s good.” Skye filled her mouth with what was now sweet milk.

“Skye, with everything that’s going on, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. I mean, I know you’re enjoying getting to know your mom and hearing all the stories about your dad and Nova in their high school days, but other than that, are you okay?”

Skye paused, her spoon resting against the side of her bowl.

“It’s still kind of strange,” she admitted.

“I mean, a good strange, but still strange. Plus, it doesn’t help that now that she’s back, I have to explain how she’s my real mom.

I guess I never gave it much thought, but apparently, everyone assumed you were my real mom. Which makes sense. In a way, you are.”

Those were the words Leah needed to hear. She reached across the table and covered Skye’s hand with her own. “You know I’ll always be here for you, right? No matter what.”

“Of course, I know that.” Skye smiled, squeezing Leah’s hand the way Leah always did to hers. Something she and Nova created, and Leah continued with Skye.

As they finished their ice cream, Leah felt much better than she had a few hours ago. Knowing that Skye still looked at her as her mom was the confirmation Leah needed to know that they were going to be okay.