Second Ave Offices: The Time In Between (WLW)

Chapter Five

Fiona tapped away at her PC's keyboard, recording her patient notes into her virtual journal in case the physical she always carried with her was misplaced, which was a very unlikely fate. She did take it literally everywhere she went after all. Still, she preferred being very well prepared. Speaking of work, her last patient on Friday had been a handful and a half. Typically, Fiona never harbored ill thoughts of her patients, but Mrs. Sparrow was beginning to test her resolve.

Every other Friday, she met with Sparrow and was amazed by the lack of communication. Though her mother and sister had recommended against taking her as a client in the first place, Fiona had decided to begin taking clients with criminal records who were basically forced into therapy. The sessions were called Court Appointed Psychological Evaluations and from a clinical standpoint quite fascinating, but Sparrow was not at all as she expected. At each and every opportunity offered to her to open up and really get to what was making her so angered, she clammed up and her usual chatter house disposition was replaced with that of the cone of silence.

It was in total contrast to what Fiona had experienced up until now. Her patients were usually there for a specific reason and most seemed to need a listening ear more than anything else, but Sparrow was precisely the opposite. After four sessions with the woman, Fiona still had absolutely no idea what always made her just so mad and fully understood why she'd been given the court appointed probationary requirements upon her release from prison. To top it off, this last session had gone completely off the rails and left her feeling a serious lack in her job skills.

"No, Chloe. Gentle strokes. With watercolors, it's more about the water distributing the paint evenly where you direct it, so you don't need as much, nor do you have to press quite so hard. The nylon brush will do most of the work for you if you apply ginger pressure with a loose wrist. Like this..." Fiona heard Kanda explain to Chloe from around the corner inside of her spare room, which had been converted to a studio for her niece several years prior. Fiona leaned back in her desk chair and peeked into the room through its open door, finding Kanda sitting in the same place as earlier right beside her niece. With her left hand, she painted on a long piece of paper clean strokes that hurriedly formed the outline of a person. "See? You keep your brush wet, wrist loose and gently paint and the strokes come out cleaner than ever. Try it."

Chloe bounced in her seat as she followed Kanda's instructions just as she said, achieving near the same results. She peered over at her new instructor and received that enthusiastic grin she bore so well with those dazzling, glowing eyes, then went back to her work just as the doorbell rang.

"Chloe, your mother's here." As Fiona spoke, she saved her notes document, put her computer to sleep, then stood to check on the roast in her oven, which had been cooking on a low simmer for the majority of the day. "Come on in, Alexa!"

After calling to her sister and hearing the door being unlocked, she arrived in her small kitchen and stood behind the bar.

"Hey." Alexa walked inside and set her keys down into the dish atop the credenza, then made her way over to her with a bright smile. "So? How was the first lesson? Did she do well?"

"It appears so, considering they haven't even finished yet. I think they were both very absorbed." Fiona opened her oven and hummed as the roast's succulent scent filled the air, but felt eyes on her. As she stood up straight and grabbed the oven mitts from their hook along the side of the refrigerator, she found her sister appearing rather stunned. "What?"

"You cooked roast..." Her lips curled up with what Fiona could only assume was hope, as odd as that may have been, and she leaned along the other side of the bar. Beside her sat a bowl filled with jelly beans and she popped a few into her mouth as she added, "You don't usually cook that unless it's a special occasion."