formal, as if she had no idea that she just deemed Amanda as more on the crazy side than she was comfortable with.
“You don’t have any record of me? I’ve been seeing Tommy Declan. He’s getting another office set up in Mistletoe for you guys. Is that why? You guys transferred my file or something?” Amanda wrinkled her nose. What was going on?
“Ma’am. We don’t have a Tommy Declan who works here. And we aren’t expanding into Mistletoe, ever. Our office manager has been looking at putting another office in Missoula. But we want to go into a bigger city, not smaller. I hope you get things straightened out. If you’ll excuse me. Thank you for calling.” And the call ended.
With less civility than Amanda had ever received.
She pulled the phone away from her ear and glanced at the piece in complete confusion.
Tommy didn’t work for them?
Did she have his name wrong?
They weren’t expanding into Mistletoe? Maybe he was the only one moving into Mistletoe. Maybe she’d just ruined his announcement. Maybe he wasn’t charging her yet.
Amanda put her phone in her lap and lifted her gaze to meet Janice’s. “They’re saying I’m not a patient with them.”
Was she going crazy? Tommy was real. He had to be. Amanda pressed her fingers to her temples and shook her head. “I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“Amanda, you’re one of the last people I would ever consider to be crazy. There has to be some logical explanation as to why your files aren’t on record with the therapist’s office. Can you get ahold of your therapist?” Janice slid the papers back to Amanda that she’d brought in.
“Oh, I know where to find him, alright.” She continued at the questioning look in Janice’s eyes. “He’s staying with my family right now while he looks for a new office to set up his practice.”
“He’s staying with you? Amanda, I hope you don’t mind, but I think we need to do our due diligence here. Let me check with a friend at the medical practicing offices in Billings and let’s see if there’s a therapy license in place for this man you’ve hired. Maybe it’s under Thomas or something.” Janice picked up her phone and dialed a number, pressing the ear piece against her cheek. After a momentary pause, she spoke to someone on the other end for a moment and then hung up. “Okay, Dylan said he’d get back to me. He has to check with a different department to get that information. I’ll text you as soon as I have it.” Janice’s lips hardened in a flat line. “I have to be honest. We take this very seriously on our end and we haven’t even paid anything.”
Janice was saying everything Amanda didn’t want to inspect too closely. She nodded anyway and gathered her papers together. “Thank you, Janice. Let me know as soon as you can. I need to get back to my house.”
She couldn’t explain why she felt like a fish out of water. All over again.
What was she doing? It really was going to come down to if she trusted Tommy more than the evidence was indicating. Did she? She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t even sure what the information she’d gathered was saying.
Was it saying Tommy didn’t work with the Colby office? Was it saying he wasn’t a therapist? Was it saying he’d come to steal from her?
None of it made sense. She’d filled out the paperwork at the therapist clinic. Tommy had her folder and file and he’d called her to go to the conference room.
Nothing was out of place.
So, then how was it possible that she wasn’t a patient for that clinic? Why didn’t they have her information on record?
She left the agency and climbed back in her rig. She needed answers from Tommy and she needed them now.
Her heart was fast sinking into reality, though. The one person she trusted the most suddenly had more shadows of doubt around him than anyone else in her life.
That was saying something when she had a mother like Jennifer.
She stepped on the gas. All she had to do was ask Tommy. He’d give her an explanation that would make sense and fill in any holes that she had about him in her mind and heart.
But what if he couldn’t? What if he didn’t have anything but more lies for her and Amanda had no way of knowing?
All she wanted was the truth. Whatever it was, she’d deal with it. She would