“Good. Dr. Ish works well with children who struggle with self-regulation—especially those who process best through creative expression.” He made a note. “Max’s engagement so far is a positive indicator.” He didn’t look at her. Not once. Something hot and wounded coiled low in Jackie’s chest spreading slow and uncomfortable. She pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, fighting the urge to say something reckless. “And how have you been coping?” he continued. “Any new stressors—”
“Oh, hol’ the fuck up.” Her voice cut through the room before she could stop it.
“We really doing this today?” Najee’s pen paused mid-stroke. His fingers tightened slightly around it before he looked up. expressionless. “Doing what?”
“This,” Jackie said, gesturing between them. “This fake-professional,how-does-that-make-you-feelbullshit. Acting like you ain’t ghost me for three weeks.” His jaw flexed once.
“I didn’t ghost you.”
“You haven’t contacted me either,” she shot back.
“And you been on weird shit ever since you came back.”
“I had a personal matter.”
“No,” she snapped. “What you had was a fucking mouth. And a phone. And you used neither.” Silence dropped like a weight. Najee’s nostrils flared, just barely. Jackie leaned back, arms folding across her chest, trying to regroup. But it was too late. She had already shown her hand. And she hated herself for even caring. “You know what?” she said tightly. “Never mind. Continue with your lil’ clinical check-in.” Najee closed his legal pad slowly. Like he was trying not to break it in half. “You seem upset.”
“You don’t fucking say?” she shot back. “I must be hiding it real well.”
“You are,” he said evenly. “You’re deflecting.”
“Oh, we diagnosing now?” Jackie tilted her head. “Should I lay on the couch too?”
“Ms. Brown,” he began, controlled, “this is a therapeutic setting. My responsibility is to—”
“Your responsibility?” she cut in with a brittle laugh. “Your responsibility was also to show up.” His eyes sharpened. “I communicated the necessary information to the school—”
“But not to me.” Her voice cracked once. She smoothed over it immediately.
He caught it anyway. “You’re taking this personally,” he said quietly. “You’re damn right I am,” she whispered. “Because itwaspersonal.” Najee leaned forward instinctively, forearms braced on his knees. “Jackie…” Her name slipped out without thought. Not Ms. Brown butJackie.
Gone was the clinical distance he’d been holding onto since his return. What remained washim. Familiar and unmistakable. His voice dropped before he spoke again.
“If I’ve made you feel ignored—”
“You did.” His composure cracked in real time.
Jackie watched as his fingers tightened around the pen.
“I didn’t intend to hurt you.”
“That don’t change the fact that you did.”
“Jackie…” he tried again, voice lower, “you don’t understand—”
“Then explain it,” she snapped. “Since you so damn professional, explain why you disappeared. Explain why Max has a new therapist without warning. Explain why you can sit in a room with me and pretend like— she stopped herself. Her voice didn’t rise it trembled.
Najee’s eyes closed for a beat. When he opened them, the truth was sitting right behind his pupils. He didn’t hide this time. “I’m having a house built from the ground up,” he said slowly, like dragging the words out of himself. “The house should’ve been finished weeks ago. The construction company I hired, turned out to be some money grabbing dragons. So, I brought in a whole new team, and we finished everything.” Jackie blinked, thrown. “That’s it?” she asked, confusion swelling in her chest. “A house issue?” He shook his head once. “No,” he said. “That iswhat happened. That is not why I didn’t contact you.” She froze. Najee looked at her, the way he had that night on her porch, when his breath touched her neck, and his restraint was hanging by a thread.
“I didn’t contact you because I needed space,” he admitted quietly.
“Not from Max.” His voice dipped. “From you.”
Jackie’s heart dropped so hard it stole the air from her lungs. “From… me?”
“Jackie, what happened that night—” he stiffened. “Shouldn’t have happened.”
Her stomach sank. “Oh.” That was all she managed. Najee’s eyes flashed with frustration.