His Therapist

Chapter 4

She stared at the text for what seemed like an eternity.

Mr. Higgins: I need you to bring the stack of papers I left yesterday to my house.

And along with the text was his address attached to it.

How'd he even get her number? Oh, right. It was required on the form she had filled out before she took the job.

Pursing her lips, she sighed, not sure what to make of any of it. She had just arrived at work when she had received the message out of the blue.

She glanced around the restaurant before her eyes finally landed on Stacey, who was busy taking orders. Once she was done, she finally walked around to the kitchen, walking past her.

"Stacey," Thea stopped her co-worker. "Mr. Higgins wants me to take a couple of papers to his house. Can you cover for me while I'm gone?"

Stacey raised a questioning brow but thankfully didn't ask about it. "Yeah, of course." She quickly said before walking off.

Thea walked around to the back of the counter and found the stack of papers her boss had been talking about.

The situation did seem a bit sketchy, going to her boss' house alone to bring something he could've come himself to get but maybe she was reading too much into things. Her boss wanted her to bring a stack of papers to his house and that was that.

She took off her apron, putting it away before walking out of the restaurant from the back. She pulled the address up in the GPS on her phone before she sat down inside her car.

The drive wasn't far, maybe 15 minutes at most. As she took a turn and drove down into his neighbourhood, she realized that she never thought about how much money her boss actually had. She knew that the restaurant that she worked at wasn't the only one he owned but she hadn't expected him to live in such a rich neighbourhood.

When the GPS said that she had arrived at her destination, she pulled into the driveway. As she parked her car, she couldn't help but stare at the two-story brick building.

The bricks were a nice warm cream grey colour, giving off an almost inviting allure. The large arched windows adorned practically the whole front side of the house, letting light flow through but was slightly tinted to prevent the outside from seeing in.

She sucked in a deep breath as she reached for the papers in the passenger seat. Couldn't he have just gotten the papers himself?

She opened the door and stepped out of the car, walking up the driveway to the front door and then rang the doorbell.

Almost immediately, the door swung open, taking her by surprise. The door opened, revealing the familiar pudgy bald man. She tried to hide the grimace that appeared on her face by forcing a smile as she held out the papers to him.

"Thea!" He exclaimed, a bit too excitedly as he stepped out of the doorway. "Come in, come in."

She plastered a polite smile, hoping he didn't read too much into her reluctance.

"I uh... I have to go, here are your papers." She turned him down, wanting to leave as soon as possible. Mr. Higgins chuckled, shaking his head, clearly not taking rejection well.

"Nonsense! Stay for a drink."

She glanced back at her car, wanting to decline his offer once again. The very last thing she wanted to do was to stay with her boss any longer but she knew she had no choice once she saw the giddy not-so-innocent grin on his face.

She blew out a silent breath of surrender and stepped into the house and he closed the door behind her. Maybe she was being paranoid but her gut feeling was telling her that a drink wasn't going to be the only thing he was going to offer.