Kenzie removed an apple from the crisper drawer. She decided she didn’t have the energy to get out the cheese and cut herself a couple of slices. She sat down on the couch with Zachary.
“Go ahead and order us something.”
He nodded and picked up his phone. “What do you want?”
“I don’t really care. As long as it isn’t something that I have to make.” Kenzie bit into her apple. It had been a long time since lunch. While Zachary poked through his phone and decided what to order in, she picked up the remote control and listened to the news headlines as the local news began. As she had come to expect, there wasn’t much in the way of good, uplifting news. Negative headlines garnered more attention. When they switched to a story about Brittany “the Bombshell” Blake and her recent close-encounter with a possible killer, Kenzie quickly turned it off.
She turned her attention to Zachary. “So, tell me about your day today.” Kenzie mentally reviewed what she remembered of his schedule for the day. “You got in to see Dr. Boyle for therapy today?”
Zachary nodded. He suppressed a smile, looking down at his hands. “It was good. I caught her up on... some of the stuff that happened while we were on vacation.”
“I guess you kind of left her hanging before, when we lost cell coverage.”
“Yeah. So she’s been wondering how everything turned out, but I guess since she didn’t get any reports that I’d had a breakdown and was in hospital somewhere, she figured that everything was okay.”
“Well, I hope you told her that you did more than just okay. For you to be able to deal with the fire at the Lodge was huge.” Kenzie smiled at him encouragingly. “I hope you really bragged it up.”
His pale face was turning pink. He smiled again, nodding, but not raising his dark eyes to look into hers. It was nice to see him smile, especially as they approached Christmas, the worst time of year for his depression. He ran a hand over his short, stubbly hair.
“She was impressed. She said that she knew I could do it.”
“I guess it’s pretty amazing what we can do if we have to,” Kenzie said. “We think we know what our limits are, but then something comes that pushes us out of our comfort zone... and we don’t know until we face it if we can handle it.”
“I told her...” Zachary licked dry lips, speaking hesitantly, as if worried how she might react, “that I’m worried... that nothing has changed. That the next time I remember the fire again... the flashbacks will be just as bad. That I won’t have progressed at all.”
Kenzie wanted to jump in and reassure him that of course he had made huge progress, and he wouldn’t fall right back to where he was before. But psychology was not her area, and even if it were, she knew better than to counsel someone so close to her. She was too close to Zachary to have an unbiased opinion. “So... what did Dr. B say about that?”
Zachary picked at a thread in his jeans. “She said that... I’ll probably still have some anxiety around it, but now that I know I can get through it, that she doesn’t think it will be that bad. She’s done exposure therapy with patients before, helping them to get over phobias or anxieties.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess... we’ll find out.”
“We could go to a restaurant with candles or a fireplace. See how you feel.”
Zachary shook his head immediately. “No way.”
“Are you sure, you don’t want to take some time to think about it?”
Zachary started to protest again, then looked at her and realized that she was teasing him. He ran his hand through his dark hair again, chuckling. But it was forced. Kenzie might have pushed it a bit far.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “I’m a little punchy. Long day.”
He laughed again. “No, it’s fine. Sometimes... I don’t realize when you’re joking.”
“I shouldn’t do that. I’m glad things went well with Dr. B. And if you didn’t brag enough about how well you handled the situation out there, I’ll tell her at our next couple’s session too. Because what you did out there was... remarkable. It really was.”
“It’s not such a big thing for anyone else.”
“You were the one who took charge. That would be impressive by itself. Add in the fact that even a candle flame is usually enough to break you down, and that you faced a blazing house fire...?” Kenzie shook her head. “I can see I’m going to have to brag you up more. If that’s how you told her about it.”
He looked away from her, but not fast enough that she didn’t see his smile of pleasure over her insistence that he deserved praise for having faced his biggest fear.
Kenzie had nibbled away most of her apple. She looked down at the core. “How long before dinner is here?”
He checked his phone screen. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Okay. I’m going to go get changed. I’m not wearing grown-up clothes for the rest of the day.”
She disposed of her apple core and went to her bedroom to change into a pair of comfortable pajamas. It wasn’t so much that she hated her work clothes or that they were uncomfortable. She just needed a transition from ‘work Kenzie’ to ‘home relaxing Kenzie.’ She would put away any worries from the office and just focus on herself and Zachary for the evening.
She had hoped, with the holiday to the mountains, that she would be able to boost his mood and help him to get to a better place before December. He had already been sliding into depression in October, before the two of them had to endure the anti-virus protocol, and his physical decline during the treatment had been much worse than hers. Maybe because she kept herself in good condition, eating and sleeping well, and he had difficulty with both. His viral load had ended up being much higher than hers, even though he had contracted it from Kenzie. And that meant that they had also hit him a lot harder with the drugs they hoped would wipe out the virus before it could affect him as it had the nursing home victims.
The holiday had not gone as expected, but she didn’t think he had lost more weight at the Lodge, and he had returned knowing that he had handled one of the things he had feared the most in life. If he could beat his fear of fire, maybe he could beat the depression and some of the other challenges as well. She hoped so.
“Food’s here,” Zachary called out.
“I’ll be right there.”
Gentle Angel, Book #4 of the Kenzie Kirsch Medical Thriller series by P.D. Workman can be purchased at pdworkman.com
Also by P.D. Workman
MYSTERY/SUSPENSE:
* * *
Kenzie Kirsch Medical Thrillers
Unlawful Harvest
Doctored Death
Dosed to Death
Gentle Angel (Coming soon)
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Zachary Goldman Mysteries
She Wore Mourning
His Hands Were Quiet
She Was Dying Anyway
He Was Walking Alone
They Thought He was Safe
He Was Not There
Her Work Was Everything
She Told a Lie
He Never Forgot
She Was At Risk
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Reg Rawlins, Psychic Detective
What the Cat Knew
A Psychic with Catitude
A Catastrophic Theft
Night of Nine Tails
Telepathy of Gardens
Delusions of the Past
Fairy Blade Unmade
Web of Nightmares
A Whisker's Breadth
Skunk Man Swamp
Magic Ain't A Game
Without Foresight
Careful of Thy Wishes (Coming Soon)
Time to Your Elf (Coming Soon)
Undiscovered Tomb (Coming Soon)
* * *
Auntie Clem’s Bakery
Gluten-Free Murder
Dairy-Free Death
Allergen-Free Assignation
Witch-Free Halloween (Halloween Short)
Dog-Free Dinner (Christmas Short)
Stirring Up Murder
Coup de Glace
Sour Cherry Turnover
Apple-achian Treasure
Vegan Baked Alaska
Muffins Masks Murder
Tai Chi and Chai Tea
Santa Shortbread
Cold as Ice Cream
Changing Fortune Cookies
Hot on the Trail Mix
Recipes from Auntie Clem's Bakery
* * *
Parks Pat Mysteries
Out with the Sunset
Long Climb to the Top
Dark Water Under the Bridge
Immersed in the View (Coming Soon)
Skimming Over the Lake (Coming Soon)
Hazard of the Hills (Coming Soon)
* * *
High-Tech Crime Solvers Series
Virtually Harmless
* * *
Cowritten with D. D. VanDyke
California Corwin P. I. Mystery Series
The Girl in the Morgue
* * *
Stand Alone Suspense Novels
Looking Over Your Shoulder
Lion Within
Pursued by the Past
In the Tick of Time
Loose the Dogs
* * *
YOUNG ADULT FICTION:
* * *
Medical Kidnap Files:
Mito
EDS
Proxy
Toxo
Pain
* * *
Between the Cracks:
Ruby
June and Justin
Michelle
Chloe
Ronnie
June, Into the Light
* * *
Tamara’s Teardrops:
Tattooed Teardrops
Two Teardrops
Tortured Teardrops
Vanishing Teardrops
* * *
Breaking the Pattern:
Deviation
Diversion
By-Pass
* * *
Stand Alone YA novels
Stand Alone
Don’t Forget Steven
Those Who Believe
Cynthia has a Secret
Questing for a Dream
Darkness before the Dream (prequel story)
Once Brothers
Intersexion
Making Her Mark
Endless Change
Gem, Himself, Alone
* * *
AND MORE AT PDWORKMAN.COM
About the Author
Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author P.D. (Pamela) Workman writes riveting mystery/suspense and young adult books dealing with mental illness, addiction, abuse, and other real-life issues. For as long as she can remember, the blank page has held an incredible allure and from a very young age she was trying to write her own books.
* * *
Workman wrote her first complete novel at the age of twelve and continued to write as a hobby for many years. She started publishing in 2013. She has won several literary awards from Library Services for Youth in Custody for her young adult fiction. She currently has over 70 published titles and can be found at pdworkman.com.
* * *
Born and raised in Alberta, Workman has been married for over 25 years and has one son.
Please visit P.D. Workman at pdworkman.com to see what else she is working on, to join her mailing list, and to link to her social networks.
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