to change the subject.
“Illinois,” I replied.
He raised an eyebrow. “A Midwest girl, huh?”
I nodded. It looked as though he wanted to say more but he stopped himself. He just gave me a sly smile. Then something caught my eye in the distance, over by the school. Although I couldn’t see that well that far away, I had the feeling it was Daniel. He was talking with another guy, who had his back to me.
“What are you looking at?” Ricky asked and I gave him my attention again.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
I could tell Ricky didn’t believe me, but he didn’t push any further.
“Can I stop by your office this afternoon and hand you a few cases? Are you ready to see clients?”
I nodded. “Tom gave me the green light.”
Ricky smiled. “Great.”
When I looked back over to where Daniel had been, I noticed he was walking right toward us. Ricky had his back to him but he could see my face.
There was no reason for me to panic but I did. There was absolutely nothing going on between Ricky and me, but for some reason, I didn’t want Daniel to see the two of us sitting together. Unfortunately, it was inevitable.
I could see the look on Daniel’s face change as he registered the fact that I was seated on the bench having lunch with Ricky. Even though it wasn’t planned and he had just sat down for a friendly chat, I felt guilty, like I was doing something wrong. Especially when I saw the look of pain on Daniel’s face and the sadness in his eyes when he passed by the two of us. He didn’t stop or say anything, he just continued walking right by us.
When I looked at Ricky, he was taking a sip of orange juice. He swallowed and said, “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t respond. I just looked down at my lunch. I could feel a few tears forming in the corners of my eyes.
“Was that Danny?” he asked.
When I looked back at Ricky, I could see he was trying to figure out who had just passed by. I found it odd that he called Daniel ‘Danny.’ Everyone else called him Daniel.
I could feel a teardrop escape down my face. I tried to discretely brush it away, which wasn’t easy with Ricky staring at me, almost examining me. I could see his wheels spinning. I knew in a few seconds he would realize something was going on between Daniel and me. Then a look of understanding spread over his face. I wasn’t sure if he was going to say something or keep it to himself.
When he started to say something, I realized he wasn’t sure either. Then he stopped and just looked at me. “Danny’s a good guy,” he said finally. “I’d hate to see him get hurt.”
Without another word, he rose and walked away.
***
I sat in my office staring at the case files. At least the pile was getting smaller. I debated the sanity of trying to read cases when all I could think about was the look on Daniel’s face when he saw me with Ricky.
I didn’t even know Ricky. He had just sat down to talk to me. It was such an innocent thing, yet it wasn’t. There was obviously something more between Daniel and Ricky then just me having lunch with him. They had to have some history together. Why else would he call him Danny?
I grabbed a file from the pile and opened it. After I read the same opening paragraph five times and it still didn’t make sense, I decided it was time to talk to Daniel.
I hadn’t yet been to his office but I had an idea of where the intake area was, so I did a little searching until I saw the door with him name on it. It was half open or half closed, depending on your point of view. It made me wonder if it was symbolic of how he was feeling about me. Yes, as a therapist, I had a tendency to read too much into everything.
I knocked lightly on the door and when Daniel looked up he seemed surprised to see me. Not pleasantly surprised, as I had hoped, but he didn’t look unpleasantly surprised either. He just looked confused.
“I think we need to talk,” I said as I entered his office and closed the door behind me.
He nodded and I took a seat.
“I just want you to know that I was eating lunch by myself when