Page 44 of The Worst Guy

Alex folded her arms on the table, leaned closer to O'Rourke. She was hooked. Entranced. "What are Friday mornings like?"

"Well," he started, "I actually learned shit these past two Fridays. That's an anomaly. Dr. Shapiro's residents indicated she was very relaxed last Friday. One of them used the word 'mellow.'"

Hell yeah, she was.I had to steal Acevedo's apple to hide my grin over that.

Cal snatched up the butcher paper from his sandwich and mine, saying, "Is there a point to any of this? We're sitting here reading the tea leaves of this bastard's behavior as if there's ever any rhyme or reason to his moods. And Shapiro, well, I don't know what to say about that. For all we know it's her residents, the ones selling stories about her down the hall, who are ticking her off. What's there to be done about any of this? Nothing." He pushed to his feet. "I gotta go find some walnuts."

"I don't have a point," O'Rourke said after Cal stalked off. "Just a few things I've noticed."

"That's great because I don't need a point," Alex said. "Though I am wondering if my residents spend this much time talking about me behind my back."

"They don't," Nick said.

At the same moment, I replied, "Of course they do."

"How are those sessions going?" Alex asked. "Any progress?"

There was no way to answer that so I didn't. "Define progress."

O'Rourke flipped a page in his notebook. "Another thing I've noticed—"

I reached for the notebook but he pinned it under his elbow. "Oh, for fuck's sake, that's enough noticing from you."

"No, I need to hear this," Alex said. "What else?"

"Everyone has noticed that they take great effort to avoid each other," O'Rourke said. "Especially on Thursdays."

"If you have this much time on your hands, I'm not giving you enough to do," I said. "Believe me, I'll fix that today."

"Right, right," O'Rourke murmured. "Because I'm so good at following directions and meeting expectations."

Nick clapped me on the shoulder. "Best of luck. That's all I've got for you. Best of luck."

I was going to need it.

Chapter17

Sara

Alex:Do my residents talk about me behind my back?

Sara:Constantly but you have to ignore it.

Alex:Whyyyyyyyy though?

Sara:Because they're residents. They need something to gossip about and we're one of the easiest targets.

Alex:How can you be so chill about this?

Sara:I'm not. I've just compartmentalized it enough to be able to say that it's normal and it's not about me. I can disconnect myself from it.

Sara:Unless there's something you've heard that you think I should know.

Alex:It's not something you NEED to know. I'd tell you if it was. It's just chatter.

Sara:Now I have to ask. What's the chatter?

Alex:The trauma fellow appears to have befriended some of your residents.