Shameless (The Therapist #2), стр. 16
Both of us break into giggles, and I have to put my hand over my mouth to keep from spitting out the swig of vodka cranberry I just sipped.
“Oh shut up,” I manage to say after I swallow. “I know you had to stay home because that child care center on the Air Force base will give you shit if you send your sick kid there, but now I’m giving you shit for making me face Judy alone. It’s like she knew you weren’t there, so she went extra hard on me. Next time, Danny is the one who has to stay home.”
“Okay, I’ll tell him,” Melissa says behind a giggle. Daniel works on Dover Air Force Base as a civilian engineer, while Melissa works with me at Milton Animal Clinic. So, if one of them has to stay home from work, it’s going to be Missy.
Melissa Backer has become my absolute best friend over the past eight years when she started working at my father’s clinic. She’s only a year older than me, and her sense of humor is off the charts. Missy is just the kind of person who always seems to have it figured out. She married Daniel when she was only nineteen years old, and while a normal person would’ve freaked out about being pregnant at the age of nineteen, Melissa gathered her thoughts and figured out how to make it work. She married her high school sweetheart, got an Associate’s degree, and settled down in a life I could only dream of. Now she’s twenty-nine with two kids, has been married for a decade, and seems genuinely happy with her life—minus a few sexual miscues from Danny every now and then, but there’s no surprise there.
Missy and I hit it off from the day she walked into MAC, and we haven’t slowed down since. I know all about what she goes through at home with Danny and the kids, and she knows everything about my life of drama with boyfriends and parents. She’s my secret-keeper, and I’m hers. I love her to death, because her presence always makes things easier. She lightens the mood, no matter how dark the room may be, and after a long day of my bitching mother and going to therapy, I was beyond excited when she agreed to meet me at the bar in Applebee's for a drink to blow off some steam. Missy is my relief valve.
“All right, kid. Tell me what happened with Judy,” Missy says, as she reaches for her sweating glass of Red Bull and vodka.
“Okay, so remember how I told you what went down between Brandon and me?” I begin. I turn my body in the seat to face my beautiful redheaded friend, whose hair is loose and cascading down her back like a bloody waterfall. “Well, when I got to work, expecting to have to explain everything to Judy myself, she comes at me the second I get through the door. Apparently, Brandon called her and told her everything. He even tried to make me the asshole by saying I kicked him out of my house. Of course, my mother believed what he said and got mad at me like Brandon is her favorite child. She told me I was running out of time to get married because I’m twenty-eight.”
“Ooh, the fucking audacity!” Missy barks.
“Right! She’s horrible with that shit. God, I just feel so stressed out right now.”
“Maybe you should go talk to that gorgeous therapist of yours.”
“First of all, I did go see him today,” I explain. “Second of all, don’t even start.”
“What? It’s not my fault he’s gorgeous,” Missy says behind a giggle. “I remember after we looked him up online, then I saw him leaving his office downtown one day. I was like, ‘Well hello Mr. Therapist! I think I’m due for some one-on-one time. How about we go back in there and close the door. Maybe we lay down on the couch. Maybe you show me your therapeutic cock and balls!’”
“Oh my god, Missy.”
“Shove those beautiful balls right in my face.”
“Missy!” I bellow, before diving into a laughing fit. “Something tells me Danny would have a problem with that.”
“You think?” Missy laughs again. “You know I love my Danny, but something tells me Danny isn’t packing what your therapist has dangling between his legs. That man is a god. Don’t worry, Tessa, you know I’d never lay a finger on anyone other than Danny... and myself. A girl needs orgasms, after all.”
Both of us laugh together again, and all the weight I felt on my shoulders before I made it to the bar feels like it has been lifted off. It probably has something to do with the tiny buzz I’m feeling now, but Missy is the biggest culprit. She just knows how to clear the clouds on a rainy day.
“So, can I ask what Mr. Sexy Ass said in therapy, or is that just between the two of you?” Missy asks as she adjusts the shoulder straps on her blue dress.
“Well, I don’t like to really get into it, but he does such a good job of telling me what I need to hear. I think he’s a super feminist or something, because he makes me feel empowered. Basically, he told me I don’t need anyone to validate me. He said I’m a queen.”
“Wait!” Missy puts a finger in the air. “That beautiful man told you you're a queen, and you managed to not ride him like a rollercoaster right there in the office? You’re literally the strongest woman I know.”
We both laugh. “I’m not going to try to fuck my therapist, Missy.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s my therapist!”
“Therapists still fuck! Especially