Slow No Wake - By Dakota Madison Page 0,11

especially by the twins.

When he stood up to greet me, I noticed that he was only a few inches taller than me, which is not very tall for a man, because I’m only five feet five inches. His thin frame was accentuated by his tight-fitting tailored clothing. He looked to be in his early thirties and definitely had an air of perfectionism. One quick glance around his obsessively orderly office confirmed my hypothesis.

Brad looked me up and down and I suddenly felt as if I was being evaluated. “You must be the new therapist Tom spoke so highly of.” Brad’s words were complimentary but his tone was skeptical. I could tell Brad was someone I would need to prove my worth to.

He made no other motion to introduce himself and didn’t hold out his hand.

“We’re giving Lexie a tour,” Serenity said.

“I hope you enjoy seeing the facilities,” Brad said cordially as Trinity and Serenity grabbed my elbows and led me out of Brad’s office.

After his door was shut and we made our way down the corridor, the twins starting laughing.

“What do you think of Brad?” Trinity asked.

I gulped. I didn’t want to say anything derogatory about my new coworker, but he seemed to fit some of the criteria for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

“Maybe someday, someone will pull that stick out of his ass,” Trinity said.

Serenity leaned in and said quietly, “Did you notice he didn’t shake your hand?”

I nodded.

“He’s a germaphobe,” she continued. “He never touches anyone, not even his clients.”

It wasn’t a secret that some people became therapists because they wanted to deal with their own issues. Perhaps Brad fit into that category. The twins probably could, too. It made me wonder what issues I was dealing with by becoming a counselor.

The twins showed me the building for the day treatment programs and then we headed over to the residential facilities. The place was huge and a bit overwhelming. It was easily four times the size of the mental health facility I had worked at back home.

There were residential programs for both youths and adults and they were housed in separate areas for obvious reason. I met so many staff members, it was difficult to keep track of all of them. Most of them seemed very warm and friendly, confirming that I had at least made one good choice in moving to Florida.

“We also have an onsite school for the kids in the residential program,” Trinity said. “They’re out at the Challenge Ropes Course today, if you want to take a quick peek. It’s kind of cool. The classrooms are all brand new.”

I nodded and we went inside. Trinity was right. There were only five classrooms but they were all state-of-the-art with SMART boards and cool projection systems.

A young woman was sitting in one of the rooms, reading a gigantic book. We entered the room and when we got closer, I noticed it was a Shakespeare anthology.

“This is Miss Matthews,” Serenity said. “We call the teachers by their formal names because that’s what the kids are expected to do. It’s just easier that way.”

Miss Matthews stood and gave me a big smile. She put her book down and extended a hand. “Pleased to meet you,” she said.

Miss Matthews looked to be about my age. Even though she was wearing glasses, they didn’t mask her natural beauty. She was petite with lovely, raven black hair and stunning blue eyes.

I shook her hand but before I could get a word out, Trinity said, “This is Lexie, the new outpatient therapist. Tom said she’ll be doing mostly youth and family, so you’ll see more of her in the future, I’m sure.”

“Some of the students stay enrolled in the school, even when they move to outpatient services, so we like to keep their therapists informed of their progress, or lack thereof, more times than not,” Miss Matthews said.

I nodded. “It’s great to meet you.”

“Good to have you here,” she said as she sat back down.

Next, the twins had me peek into the science room. It was dark but I could see that they had a lot of brand new lab equipment as well as a bank of the latest computers. “We got a grant to build this lab for the students,” Serenity said. “All of those computers are for the virtual biology labs. The students can dissect anything and no actual animals have to die.”

“And there’s no smell,” Trinity added. I still remembered how disgusting the formaldehyde covered pigs smelled when I had biology