Stuck/ R.R.

Chapter 21

QOTD: When you start seeing your worth, you'll find it harder to stay around people who don't.

Joe's POV:

We decided to start Joelle off with telehealth sessions, but in the future we could switch to in person sessions if needed. Plus, Galina could join the call from her house as well.

"Joelle, c'mon!" I call her to the office since it's almost 12.

Jazmine is getting the younger one situated in the living room with snacks and a movie to occupy them for the next hour.

Joelle walks in and sits beside me, picking at her nails and bouncing her leg, two of her nervous habits.

"Nervous?" I ask.

"Yes, I don't really know what to expect and this is nerve-racking. Plus, I'm not very good at putting my feelings into words." She exhales.

"You're gonna be fine. I don't think anything major is gonna happen today, but we are all here with you baby. Me, Jazmine, and even your mom will be on the call. If it gets too much, let us know and we can go from there. Just remember we're all here to help you, even Ashton. And if you don't feel he is a good match for you, we can always look for someone else." I grab her hand, stopping her from picking.

"Okay." She nods.

"I love you baby." I kiss her forehead.

"I love you too daddy."

We wait for Jazmine to finish and she comes running in. "Sorry, had to settle a disagreement about what to watch." She shakes her head. She grabs her laptop and starts to set up the video call.

"You okay lovebug?" She looks at Joelle.

"Yea, just a little nervous."

"Oh don't be nervous, I know he's a stranger to you, but Ash literally couldn't hurt a butterfly if he wanted to." She chuckles.

This causes Joelle to giggle a little. "There's that pretty smile I was waiting on, but you're gonna be fine. Everything goes at your pace and if you get uncomfortable, you just let me or your dad and we'll handle it 'kay?"

"Yea." Jojo nods.

"Ready?" Jazmine sits on the other side of Joelle, sitting the laptop on the desk in front of us. Once she sees Jojo's nod, she connects to the call. As the website loads, we see Ashton's friendly face appear as he's scrolling on his phone.

"Hey guys." He beams once he notices we've connected. Joelle offers a wave, while me and Jaz both greet him. "We'll just wait a few more minutes because Joelle's mom should be joining us too, right?"

"Yea." I answer.

Shortly after I see my ex-wife's face appear on the screen. "Hey y'all."

We all greet her before Ashton takes over. "Okay let's get started." He exclaims with a friendly smile. "I know we've never met Galina, but I'm Ashton Irwin, pediatric and family psychiatrist. I met your kids a while back when Jazmine and Joe brought them in for checkups."

"Nice to meet you." Galina replies.

"How are you doing Ms. Joelle?" He gently asks.

"Good." She quietly replies.

"I think she's feeling a little nervous and shy right now." Jazmine rubs her backs, while explaining.

"That's totally normal, but I promise there's nothing to be nervous about. I'll just explain to you what exactly is gonna happen to maybe help soothe some of these nerves. So, today will just be us getting to know each other a bit better. Otherwise it's gonna be a bit weird for you to open up to me if we know nothing about each other." He laughs.