Page 88 of Angel

I sat up as well, bringing my knees up and resting my arms on them. “But you might as well try. How can that hurt? As long as there’s a small chance that you might get healthier, why not take it?”

She looked down. “Because it’s exhausting. Going through that… is exhausting.”

“And living with anxiety and nightmares isn’t?”

She didn’t answer.

“Look...”

“If it doesn’t work, I’ll keep having these dreams andwill eventually have to talk about them!” Her head snapped back up and she glared at me.

I silently counted to ten. I wasn’t angry at Paige, but I was furious over her willingness to be so complacent.

“The way you put it,” I slowly said, “Does make it sound awful. But most people find talking about traumas to be beneficial.”

She crossed her arms. “You’re not a professional.”

“So go see one,” I shot back. “And at least get an initial consultation. What about that?”

She eyed me.

“I’m not the enemy,” I reminded her.

Her arms fell down and her shoulders hunched over. “God, I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m being so mean to you.”

I rubbed her arm. “I think I know.”

“Yeah?”

“The idea of therapy can be scary. You might go there and discover more things trapped inside of you. Things you didn’t know about. Feelings… Memories...”

Her lips twisted and she looked away again, a sure sign I’d hit the nail on the head.

I took Paige’s hand in mine “But a therapist is trained to face those things. They’ll be able to guide you through anything that might come up.” I tightened my fingers around hers. “And I’ll be here as well. I would even go with you to therapy if you wanted. Or I could sit in the waiting room. Or I could not go and all. I could stay at home and when you get back we can talk about it. Or not. It’s all up to you, Paige. Just take care of your health.I love you. I can’t see you in pain like this.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Okay,” she said with a nod and a few sniffles. “I’ll do it.”

The words hardly seemed real. “Thank you.” I wrapped her up in a hug.

“When we get back I’ll find someone,” she said.

“Good.” I pulled away and wiped the one tear off her cheek. “Hey,” I softly said. “It’s Christmas Eve. How do you feel?”

She smiled a tiny bit. “Better now.”

“What can I do to make you feel great?”

She cocked her head and looked up at me through those long, dark lashes. “Just be you. You do a badass job at that already so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

I lightly pinched her cheek. “How about snowman and reindeer shaped pancakes?”

This time a real smile lit up her face. “For real?”

“Mariel makes them every year.”

“Too bad we don’t have any real snow to go along with them.”

“Christmas isn’t over yet.” I pulled her back to me and kissed her long and deep.

Banging on the door interrupted the embrace. “Wake up bro!” Franco yelled. “Look outside.”

His footsteps faded away, likely headed towards the kitchen and those pancakes.

Paige’s face scrunched in a question. “Really?”

“Let’s go see.”

Taking her hand, I pulled her from the bed and to the window. Sure enough, the scene outside was just as we expected. A thin blanket of snow covered the ground, the best part being the thick snowflakes still wafting down.

I wrapped my arms around Paige. “Well what do you know?”