The Healers Read online

  I did. I felt the need to lose our clothes, but everything else would fall into place. Just give it time. I never wanted to hurt Leo. From the moment we met, he had continued to be a constant in my life. Devoted. His intense face right now assured me. This was the real thing. Stop analyzing it to death! I had to let go of all the worry and questions.

  Something wet was trickling down my face and betrayed my tough girl look. Oh no…tears. It was a good thing I had remembered the eye shadow primer. Hopefully, I had on waterproof mascara, too. I quickly turned my face and caught a bleary view of my taupe colored walls. My gaze rested on all the light that escaped out of the big open bay windows without curtains. The white crown molded trim around them brought brightness into this room that I loved. I didn’t mind the lack of curtains, either; I just had to keep the nude walking to a minimum out here. Not that it mattered, really. My condo backed up to a green-belt area. No houses behind me. My fingers wiped my face and I focused back on Leo. I was sure the green in my eyes glimmered as it often did when they became overly indulged with moisture.

  “Of course I’m fine. I just want to make sure you really want to go forward with this. We can still turn around if you want.” My voice wavered a little. He could choose someone else. Someone that could return the adoration that burned in his eyes.

  His soft hands cupped around my face and looked deep into my eyes, “There is no way I can go back. I’ve been after you a long time. Longer than you know.” His soft lips brushed over mine.

  “When will you be back?” I tried to make an attempt at a lighter conversation.

  “I should be back by Friday at the latest. The release occurred on some older woman’s land and her children will work with us on the details, so it should finish easily.”

  “Where are you going to stay? I’m pretty sure that they don’t have accommodations in Iola.” I felt my lips turn up in a definite smirk.

  “Are you worried? I’ll be in College Station, since it’s the closest place for me to get a room.”

  His eyes glanced at the clock and I realized his minutes were numbered. “Don’t have too much fun with all the crazy college kids.” College Station was the area where all the students that attended A&M lived. I followed Leo’s eyes as they glanced over to my shoulder and realized that my chocolate tunic top had slipped off of my shoulder. It was fitted everywhere else but had loosened on the top. His hand softly reached up as if to pull the shirt back up but instead he chose to rub his hand on my shoulder. I reached my hand up to touch his lips and he bit my finger. In a good way. This would not turn out well if he really had to leave.

  Leo’s phone went off again. He looked down and silenced it but spoke gently,” I have to go, even though I would much rather stay here with you.” He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed.

  Getting used to this kind of treatment would not be a problem for me.

  I walked him to the door and gave him a goodbye kiss as he left. Shutting the door, I wondered if this was right. A little voice in my head whispered, Is this what you want? Cinderella fantasies ran rampant in my head. Finally, a guy that wanted to treat me right, and I didn’t know how to react.

  Chapter Five

  It was eleven-thirty-four and I had one more client before lunch and I couldn’t wait until the end of the day. My mind focused on the news Cameron gave us yesterday. She and Jeff were finally pregnant. They had been trying for a long time and were always worried that something was wrong. The doctor kept reiterating that this was normal and it takes some people longer. In my mind, I could just see the excitement that must have overtaken them when they heard the news. The giddy look in her eyes as she shared it with us yesterday pasted a smile on my face. They would make such adorable parents and I couldn’t wait to spoil a precious little baby. This baby would be loved so intensely. No one could spend time with Cameron and Jeff and not see that they would bless any child’s life. Just thinking about family caused a familiar tightness in my stomach that was now filled with anxiety. I took a deep breath and stopped. That was progress for me. Letting go was progress.

  I was brought back to the day before me in an instant. A day full of other people’s demons is what I enlisted for in this career. Listening and helping people work through their inner and outer battles of life could drain a person quickly. But, there was always something special when they got better. In the end, I knew that’s why I was here.

  I picked up the little black phone in my office and pressed the button that called Peter, my assistant.

  “Yes, Dr. Covington.”

  “You can send in my next client.” Oh goodness, I was pretty sure that the patient was Dustin.

  “Dustin is on his way,” Peter immediately responded.

  The dark cherry wood door began to show a shadow underneath and then I noticed the stainless steel handle begin to turn as the door pushed open. I looked at him. Poor thing, he couldn’t help it that he was every woman’s wet dream. His shiny blond hair appeared to have been just trimmed, from the way that it hugged his head. The sea green eyes in his face locked on me and his long tan body walked over to sit on the sofa. Then, he opened his mouth. I remembered instantly who he really was.

  I was making notes in my laptop after he left. As I punched the keys to highlight our discussion, I wondered whatever made people want to get married. Here was a man that had managed to sleep with seemingly every married woman within our city limits and claimed to be searching for the right woman. Of course, he didn’t want the right woman or he would try and date only available women. Was I really a rocket scientist? Or wasn’t this obvious to him. My lips couldn’t help but betray me with a smile as I pondered this idea.

  The sound of the phone interrupted my thoughts for the moment. “This is Layna.”

  “Hey, it’s Jane. I’m on my way.” I was sure there was a serious topic on her mind from the way her tone clipped at the end.

  “You’re not about to give me some awful news are you?” The plea in my voice surprised even me a little.

  “No silly girl, I just met a new guy and I want to make sure he’s not one of your patients.” I laughed.

  “Very funny; I’ll see you in a few.” My hand placed the phone back in my purse where I hoped to be able to find it the next time it rang. Standing, with my purse in hand, I felt tall with my high heeled shoes. Without the heels, I was only five foot three. My hand reached up to straighten out my hair. My fingers gingerly stopped when I got to the bottom and realized that it was straight, just like always. I peeked in the mirror on my office wall and saw that all of my freckles were in place so I softly applied some gloss and then I sprayed a little touch up of perfume. The green-eyed gaze that looked back at me in the mirror pleased me, so I decided I was ready to walk out. Peter looked at me, lips pursed like he was going to say something, but stopped. Panic ran across his face and he blurted out,

  “The representative from the pharmaceutical company called again. He said he needs to talk with you about your treatment procedure.” His eyes wouldn’t meet mine.

  Now my eyes were saying something different than my words, “Well, I will just have to get back with him later. Now is not good for me.” I did not know why these people from the insurance company lived to pester my healthy clients. I’m not sure what Peter read from my face but I guess it told him to be quiet as I went off to lunch.

  Chapter Six

  I pulled my teal Thunderbird into the parking lot slowly. Driving in a parking lot always brought concern into my mind. Too many people aimlessly walked around the lot as though they were in a mall. That can never be a good thing when there are cars involved. I easily slid my car into a space at the back of the parking lot. I stepped out of the car into the beautiful November Texas weather. My snow boots hardly made a sound as I walked through the parking lot when suddenly, I felt uneasy. I stopped and glanced around. It was similar to the senses I had at the bar the other night. But not nearly as intense. Someone was staring at me. I just didn’t know from wh
ere, but my mind felt it. I decided to ignore it. No need to be strange today and scare Jane with any stories about the boogeyman following me. I finally reached the front door to the restaurant and saw Jane peering through the glass at me. My mouth spread into a smile as I went in to greet her.

  I had met Jane in my second year of college at the University of Texas. We were both psychology majors and extremely interested in all the cute cowboys there. I started to laugh as I remembered one of our many outings in her big truck singing Matraca Berg’s Back in the saddle at the top of our lungs.

  My giggle sent a question to her eyes, “What are you laughing at today, Layna? Did you see Dustin before this?” I know, I know, patient privacy and all, but really? She’s my best friend and also a colleague, so we need to discuss patients from time to time to get another perspective. Okay. The truth is sometimes we just gossip.

  “I did see him today.” My lips began to twitch into a mischievous grin as I filled her in on my latest findings and she gave me the details on her latest hot date who was not my patient.

  On walking back into the office, I caught the strange look on Peter’s face.

  “The pharmaceutical representative is here, Dr. Covington.”

  My eyes followed Peter’s gaze and found a large, bouncer-looking man dressed up in a suit. It really was quite comical and my face betrayed me as a smile pressed hard onto my lips.

  “Can I help you?” I gave him my best good girl smile.

  “I just wondered if I could have a few minutes of your time.” He showed off his pearly whites right back. I could see we were both going to play this game.

  As he followed me into my office I could not help but glance back. His brown hair was cut very short and close to his scalp. He was going to tower over me if I got close enough and his body bordered on insanity with muscles. I think Mr. “whatever his name is” was spending a lot of time at the gym. The look on his face also indicated there was going to be some muscle behind his words as well.

  “Please have a seat. I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.” In other words, where the hell are his manners! He should have given me his name before he walked in. Where was he from?

  “Thank you, Dr. Covington.”

  Oh yeah. He was really good. Those pants were tailored so perfect that they didn’t rise up too short when he sat down.

  “I’m Calvin Bennett. I represent several companies that insure your income.”

  So? Now I was starting to get a little nervous and a little less bitchy. I sat at my chair behind the desk. “Is there a problem?” My voice came across confident. I hoped and prayed that my facial expression matched with a relaxed smile.

  “I just need to go over some information with you. You did attain a medical degree with a psychiatric specialization?”

  “Yes.” My head nodded as well, in case he was slow. He did still look like a bouncer. “I believe all my certificates can be verified with the state.” Did he really come here to go over information that was readily attainable on the internet?

  “My clients are just curious about the treatment procedure you use in this office, since you’re not using the medically proven methods that are widely used and accepted in your field.” Oh. This was not something I was going to discuss with him. This was not something I could discuss with anybody.

  “My patients leave my care well and have for the most part overcome their illness.” Not for the most part, but all of them. My insides started to shake.

  “We would like to understand why you are not supporting the treatments provided to you as acceptable.”

  He didn’t sound at all interested in what worked, but why I did not do what he told me to do. Nice. He was totally a bouncer.

  “I feel like my patients health is really my utmost concern. If I help them get better, then I’ve done my job to the best of my ability.” I tried to stay calm and keep the anger out of my face. I may have been a strawberry blonde, but the red was still in there. My cheeks just love to blush up whenever I’m emotionally stimulated.

  His muddy brown eyes started to look charged up. “Do you have any idea where you would be financially without support from our pharmaceutical industry? They are the reason your patients are provided care.” Then he continued with, “I just wanted to make you aware that we are watching you.” He began to gather himself up from the chair.

  I couldn’t help but ask, “Is there some law that I have broken that I’m not aware of?” My eyes caught his in an equally grim glare.

  He turned to leave with a glance that implied he did not need to give me an answer. As Calvin shut the door quietly, at least he had some manners, I placed my head on my desk. A few shivers ran down my body as I thought about the truth. How was I curing all these people? The truth was, I had no idea.

  Chapter Seven

  I was finally in my car for the drive home. It was already dark outside. Not that I had any one to go home to. That was comfortable and cozy to me since I had never had anyone to go home to. I was happy being alone. It was tremendously better than all the homes that had shuffled me around as a child. It was also better than being somewhere where you weren’t wanted. My mind snapped out of that thought just in time to notice the red light in front of me. My foot pressed down on the brake pedal and I let out a breath I had not even realized I had held.

  I turned into the gated townhome community I lived in. It was only twenty minutes from my office and I never regretted that decision. Most people in Houston drove hours in a day, when you calculated their commute. Not me. I loved the suburban area I lived in because there was minimal traffic, except around the holidays, and I was close to my office. My foot pressed down on the gas pedal now as the gate opened to let me in. I turned down the street and my body lit up like a live wire. What the hell was going on? I had felt a plethora of crazy senses before, but this ignited my whole body. My eyes scanned around for anything out of the ordinary. I could see my townhome from where my car sat. The porch light was on and the yard looked freshly cut. Then I noticed the sold sign in the yard next door. There was no telling how long it had been there, since I’m not always aware of what happens at the neighbor’s houses, especially, when I come home dead tired at seven o’clock at night. A medium sized moving van sat in the driveway and there was a large masculine figure that moved through the dark in the neighbor’s garage. For a split second, I could have sworn the male figure stared at me. Then I realized I was sitting still in the middle of the road between both of our houses. Of course, I called attention to myself. I pulled into my driveway and attempted to ignore the tingling all over my body from the magic.

  Walking in the house, I put my purse down and headed to the kitchen. I pulled out a fresh piece of tilapia from the fridge and turned the oven on. As I placed it in the baking dish and seasoned it, I thought about meeting the new neighbor. While it was in the oven, I reached in the mini wine cellar I had in my kitchen to grab a bottle of chardonnay, using two hands because I knew how unforgiving these gorgeous earth tone tinted tile floors could be. I sat down at my square kitchen table and enjoyed a salad with my glass of wine while the fish was still cooking in the oven.

  My mind wandered back to crazy Calvin. Yes, that’s what I would call him now. I couldn’t help but feel angry towards anyone employed by the pharmaceutical companies. I think I had been in the minority in medical school and therefore chose to keep my opinion silent. Hospital after hospital and patient after patient, I was able to see without the foggy glasses that everyone else seemed to be wearing. The truth was that we were creating addicts. And then, when we had created addicts from one of the “lifetime” medications, the patients were also enduring new symptoms that were side effects of whatever had been prescribed previously. This allowed us to prescribe even more until they were fifty years old taking almost five or six pills a day and had destroyed their liver and kidneys. Surely, someone else in the world had noticed.

  I had endured twelve years of school for my profession. Now, in my thir
d year of having my own practice, my success had surpassed even my expectations. Of course, there was something in my hands that seemed to help guide my patients to sanity. I wasn’t completely oblivious, but I was pretty damn sure it was not something I should share with my colleagues.

  There was a little boy I met once when I interned. His name was Carson and he was adorable. But, for some reason he had been diagnosed as having ADHD at about three years old. Then, one year later he had been prescribed anti-depressants. By the time I met him at six years old he was also taking medicine for anger management. I was blown away when I walked in to meet him. I could just feel his spirit trying to get out, but he wasn’t himself anymore. I was fortunate enough to meet with his teacher at school and she told me he used to crawl under the tables and fall asleep randomly throughout the day. My God! Could you blame him? I could still feel the tingle in my hands when I touched him. It had been beautiful. It felt like I was pulling him out of a drug induced stupor. The results were amazing. His messy haired toothless grin in that moment captured my heart forever. I wanted to help people permanently, not just hide all their symptoms. And for some unknown reason, I am able to.

  The timer on the oven suddenly alerted me to what my nose could already smell. My fish was ready. The aroma of dill and lemon filled the air of my kitchen. Just as I was putting some of the fish on my plate a sound at the door diverted my attention. It was dark outside and being a single woman who lived alone, I was usually careful. My body tugged me toward the door against the caution that my level headed mind argued for. I felt intoxicated. What was putting my senses into overload?

  “Who is it?” I called through the door.

  “I just moved in next door.” The male voice said something else but all I could make out was that he was a neighbor. I knew the condo next door had been sold so I pulled open the wood door. His size made me immediately wish I had grabbed my gun first.