Her toddler son starts barking, and it’s a similar sound to what I’ve been hearing, but it’s not this little tyke that’s been hitting my ears since yesterday.
“Yes, like that!” I say, forcing a smile and ruffling his hair.
Annoyed, the little guy backs away, smoothing his hair back into place.
“Puppet show?” he asks as Lorraine answers,
“No, I don’t hear a pup. Other than Austin here, I mean.”
“Go to the lie-barry for a puppet show?” Austin asks.
He’s staring at me. Not a surprise. I’m practically famous around these parts with the segment of the pack’s population that are below age six.
“I’m not doing a puppet show today, Austin,” I tell him. “Maybe soon. I’ll let your momma know when I am, okay?”
He pouts, pushing his bottom lip out so far it’s obvious that this generally works.
The baby in Lorraine’s arms starts fussing as Cat comes out of her procedure room.
“Bailey!” Cat greets sunnily.
“Can I talk to you? Is this a bad time?”
“Go on in,” she gestures. “I’ve got an hour lull before my next appointment. I’m just zipping upstairs for a cuppa tea. Want one?”
“Yes please,” I say, enthusiastically.
“Bye Lorraine,” I wave as the door is closing.
Lorraine looks disappointed that she won’t get any gossip from me. I’m not surprised she’s curious about whatever might be going on. I know I’d be curious if I was on the outside of my situation.
I might even silently judge me for it. I can’t recall if I saw Lorraine’s name on the petition or not, which has me thinking Ishould look at the signatures. How many think I should just give in to Jase? Instead of a petition, since it probably won’t add any weight to my case with the SCC, maybe I should’ve run a poll to find out who is and isn’t on my side. Though, I’ve never cared all that much what other people think, I’ve always loved data. Then again, this data might not work in my favor so maybe it’s better that I don’t know.
Cat comes in while I’m pondering this, sitting on the exam table and swinging my legs as if I’m waiting for a check-up. And in a way, I guess I am.
She sets a tray with two teacups and a plate of sugar cookies down on her desk.
“How are you doing?” she asks, warmth in her eyes. Warmth and knowing. She obviously knows I’m not doing well.
“Not so good. Medically, I think I’m okay, but… I might be going crazy.”
“Let’s take your vitals to be sure while we have a little talk.”
While she does her thing, she fills me in on the fact that Dr. Blakely is coming from Scotland to do a workup on Jared. She tells me that the council bought a bunch of fancy new medical equipment as well as a cage to keep Jared in while they run some tests.
It’s so strange not being part of what’s happening with Cicely. I kind of hate it. But I have absolutely no extra bandwidth for any drama beyond my own and we’ve got Mom and Dad’s drama to deal with too.
After she finishes catching me up, she asks why I think I’m going crazy.
I sip my tea while attempting to gather my thoughts. She waits patiently.
“My emotions are completely out of whack, and it might partly be because I’m trying to suppress them. My temper has been out of control; I even pulled Caroline from Brody’s pack’s hair the other night and believe me… I wanted to do worse.”
“I did hear about that.”
“Yeah, I’m sure I’m the talk of the village,” I mutter.
“You’ve been through a lot. And she was about to make a pass at your mate.”