Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“So tonight,” Mason starts, getting his phone out. “You’re going as Mya. What do you do for work?”
“I’m a child psychologist with an office is Highland Park and if he looks up the number I gave him, it will pull up a website stating all that, including a picture of me sitting in my office with a fake degree from the University of Chicago that can be zoomed in on so you can see the name Mya Turner on it.”
Mason looks at me for a second and then nods. “I’m impressed and a little concerned.”
“Concerned?”
“You’re just a citizen with no training.”
I raise my eyebrows. “It’s not that hard to fool a man who just wants to get in your pants.”
“True,” he agrees. “Though we need to go into this assuming he’s not the only one who’ll be looking into you. What if he wants to make an appointment?”
“For himself? I only see children. And if he tries to book a sibling or a cousin or whatever, it’s a conflict of interest.”
“What if he tells a friend that he knows this great child psychologist and they try to book an appointment?”
“I’m booked months out and have a waiting list. If the person actually has a child that needs to be seen, I’ll reach out with a recommendation of a colleague.”
Mason just nods. “You’ve thought this out.”
“I have,” I say, not telling him that my dream was to be doing exactly what he’s doing. I was in college when I met Cory and I still feel like a fraud for getting all As in my psych and human behavior classes while being swindled by a legit narcissist at the same time.
But everything happens for a reason and if life hadn’t handed me a one-way ticket to Hell, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Because crawling my way out of Hell taught me so many lessons, and those are lessons I’m able to teach others before they arrive at the Pit.
“So, Mulder, we good?”
“Hah. Like no one has ever called me that.” He rolls his eyes. “Yeah. We’re good. Just don’t think you know better than me. I’m the professional here. You follow my leads, don’t go rogue, and don’t go out of eyesight.” He reaches into his pocket and gives me a folded up piece of paper. “Tickets for the Skydeck. Meet me there at seven-thirty. There will be an Uber waiting for you after, to take you to the restaurant.”
“But it’s not really an Uber, is it?” I can’t help but get excited. This doesn’t feel like real life and if I put my therapist hat on, I would say I’m dissociating a bit, thinking about this as if it’s a real movie about to play out.
“No, it’s not. I’ll tell you the make and model of the car along with a plate number tonight.”
“Okay.” I nod a few times, trying hard to keep the smile off my face. “Rendezvous at seven-thirty, Special Agent Mason.”
“Harris,” he corrects. “Special Agent Harris.” He shakes his head and lets out a breath. “Just call me Mason. You’ll blow our cover otherwise.”
“Oh come on, no one is around.”
“Other than your ex mother-in-law.” He tips his head and I look over, seeing Karen holding her phone at her side, acting as if she’s walking down the path in our direction.
“She’s so obvious,” I sigh. “At least pretend to take a selfie so it doesn’t look like you’re recording, right? Ugh. Karen is the most fitting name for her.”
Mason’s eyes land on me for a bit and I can feel him studying me.
“You got cheated on and the divorce must have been ugly. And now you encourage couples to break up as well as moonlight as a private investigator to catch other men cheating so no one else has to go through what you went through.”
“I only encourage them to break up if they should.”
“If you think they should. And I’m sensing a lot of bias.”
He’s not wrong, and it’s pissing me off. Because deep down at the core, I still feel like a fraud. But not for being swindled again, but because I’m a couple’s therapist who doesn’t believe in love.
Chapter
Eleven
MASON
The sun is just starting to set, glaring golden light through the floor to ceiling windows of the Willis Tower. I look down at the city I’m sworn to protect, watching cars drive and boats sail out on Lake Michigan. We grew up north of here, and came to Chicago a few times. My mom and Rory liked the museums and my dad took my brothers and me to a Cubs game way back when I was in middle school.
I was drawn to the energy even back then and felt like Silver Ridge was the most boring place ever to grow up. Now that I’m an adult, I appreciate the quiet safety of a small town, though I still prefer the nightlife of Chicago.