I took a drink. “Then how come you two acted like you didn’t know each other when you saw her at the ER after I fainted?”
Joe’s threaded his fingers through his black hair accented with silver. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to say ‘good to see you again’ and then not have her remember me…”
This was getting good. He liked her. “Okay, fine. So what happened at the bar?”
“I was down there in the evening, chatting with some of the guys, and Melanie…err, Dr. Carmichael…came in alone.”
“And you picked her up.”
“No, I didn’t pick her up. She was alone, and she looked kind of… I don’t know. You’ve seen her. She’s a looker.”
“Yep, blond and beautiful. Tall too.”
That got Ryan’s attention. He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
“Anyway, there was an empty stool next to me, and she asked if it was taken. I said no. The guys I was talking to excused themselves, and then there we were. We just talked a little, and we exchanged cards. She said she was working on a book about recovering from childhood trauma.”
“So you naturally thought of me.”
“Well…yeah.”
“And that’s all? She wasn’t highly recommended?”
“Actually, she is highly recommended. When I found out what she did for a living, I Googled her first off. She’s handled lots of cases like yours. I also talked to some of the other attendees at the psychology conference. Apparently she gave a couple workshops that were very well attended and informative.”
“And you had the hots for her,” Ryan piped in.
Joe shook his head vehemently. “Nothing like that happened. I swear. I haven’t had a woman in…well, too long to tell you the truth.”
“Has her book come out yet? Maybe I’ll give it a read.” Not that it would matter. I had read heaps of books and research on cases like mine. It hadn’t helped me recover, but it did help to know I wasn’t alone in the world.
Joe shook his head. “Nope. It hasn’t come out yet, as far as I know. I check every now and then.”
“You check?”
“Yeah, what of it? I’m obviously interested in the subject too.”
“Joe, you do have the hots for her,” Ryan said, laughing.
“So I find her attractive. What’s the matter with that?”
“Nothing from where I’m standing, bro.” Ryan took a sip of wine. “So both my brothers are smitten.” He laughed again.
“Yeah, she’s nice to look at,” I said. Of course, she was no Jade. “That really doesn’t matter to me. Can she help us?”
Joe took a sip and then put down his drink. He turned and met my gaze. “Tal, you truly are ready, aren’t you?”
“I said I was, didn’t I?”
Joe shook his head. “I know what you said. But it’s that last word you said that clinched it for me.”
“Yeah? What did I say?”
“You said, ‘can she help us?’ Not ‘can she help me?’ You’re finally seeing us as a team here. That’s huge.”
I inhaled and let the air out slowly. “I’ve always seen it that way, Joe. It’s just…” It was just that they hadn’t gone through it. Yes, they had their own demons that they were fighting because of it, but they hadn’t lived the horrors. Hadn’t been beaten, starved, molested. “It’s just…”
Jonah placed his hand on my forearm. “I understand. I always have.”