Page 3 of Balance

“I never understood. Your speech therapist did play therapy and you engaged.” She nodded her head. “In her notes, she said she set up dollhouses, and you’d open up—”

“No.” I shivered at the memory. Those unfortunate children who might have appointments after mine would have suffered greatly without my involvement. “Ms. Sanchez wasruiningthem! I had to intervene!”

“Ruining?” Dr. Kohler asked.

I nodded, clutching my fists to my chest. The horror remained with me to this day. “She put the furniture in all wrong, and she was going to give it to the next kid that way! It was terrible. There was no rhyme or reason for it.”

Dr. Kohler seemed to be working out a puzzle in her head. “So—” she mused after a moment. “—you respond to agitation. It makes sense. They say Mu was always a bit obsessive compulsive. My mistake. I was trying toavoidannoying you. Most trauma patients shut down when pushed, but pressure appears to make you come alive.”

That was literally the dumbest thing I’d ever heard. I wasalwaysalive. Besides, Dr. Kohler had annoyed me plenty of times, so I had no idea what she was talking about. I just chose to ignore such infractions.

And what was she talking about—trauma? That was a bit of a stretch. My pulse raced.

I opened my mouth to respond, to tell her that I was ‘perfectly normal now, thank you very much,’ when the heavy office door opened and Julian strode into the room, grumbling under his breath and pulling at the neck of his navy scrubs. There was a dark shadow over his face that faded once he spotted me.

“I didn’t think you’d be here so soon.” He smiled, blue eyes shimmering, and a warmth began to swell through my chest. His joy was almost contagious.

And that was very nice and all, but I had unfinished business.

“Your mom said I was traumatic,” I tattled, pointing at Dr. Kohler, who had the indecency to not even look ashamed. Julian would set the record straight. She might be his mother, but he outranked her. “Tell her she’s wrong.”

His grin faltered, and he glanced at the doctor. “What’s going on?” he asked, totallynotdefending my honor.

Dr. Kohler shrugged, pulling the folder that she’d put aside earlier back in front of her. “That’s not exactly what I said.”

Julian sighed, exasperation radiating from him as he rubbed his forehead. “Please. I don’t know what you’re planning, but leave Bianca out of it.”

“Of course,son,” Dr. Kohler replied, shuffling through her papers. “I’ll take your advice into consideration.”

“That means you don’t plan on listening to me at all,” Julian muttered, returning his attention to me. He stepped toward me, holding out his hand and helping me to my feet. “Come along, darling. We’re going somewhere where people actually respect authority.”

“Oh, do carry on,children.” Dr. Kohler waved at us, seemingly distracted. “And Julian, don’t forget to be here bright and early tomorrow morning.”

Annoyance touched at me. Julian paused, hand on my waist, and glanced at his mother. “I’m not on the schedule until tomorrow afternoon.”

“I changed it,” she said, pointing her pen at him. “It shouldn’t offend you. You seem to love adjusting everyone’s routines.”

Julian’s eyes narrowed and he turned from her, pulling me closer to his side as he grumbled under his breath.

He stepped to the door, leading me along with him, and shame stabbed through my chest. While Julian was clearly annoyed at something, and Dr. Kohler had tried to get on my nerves, she had also given me some insight into Miles.

We couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.

As we reached the door, I shot Dr. Kohler a look under Julian’s arm. “Bye,” I mouthed, catching her eye. “Thank you.”

Her mouth turned up at the right corner, and she nodded once in goodbye.

“Julian?” I waited until the two of us were halfway down the long, sterile-looking hall, before pulling at his sleeve. My knuckle brushed lightly over the spot where his black tattoo-like mark would be, and the air between us seemed to pulse.

He hummed in response to my question, and our pace slowed as he moved his touch from my lower back and grasped my hand.

But he still didn’t look at me—he seemed distracted.

“Julian.” I tugged his hand, determined to get an answer. “Is there something going on between you and your mom?”

They’d seemed fine the last time I’d seen them together, which was the day I’d woken up after Julian and I bonded.

We turned the corner, and he glanced at me, pulling out a badge and swiping it over a black box on the wall to unlock the double steel doors blocking our path.