Late Bloomer

Chapter 13 Risk Your Heart

This was freaking unbelievable! I suspected Karen had serious mental issues, but this?! This blew my mind! The irony... And her therapist had to be my mom?! My head was spinning as I walked back to the car. A mixture of anger and pity washed over me. What did Mom treat Karen for? And was this why Jules and I always thought she was a psychopath?

I drove slowly to the restaurant, thinking things over. I couldn't tell anyone, not even Jules. It would tarnish Mom's reputation, giving out classified information about a patient. It must have been Karen's case file that Mom asked me to bring! If I had known—whoa, Karen went from freakish rival to mental patient... It was kinda sad.

I bought some dumplings, fried rice, and noodles and returned to the clinic. Karen's car was still there across the lot. I waited for her to come out. She appeared promptly at one oh five. I kept my head down so she wouldn't see me. She got into her car and drove off. I leaned back with a sigh. I was in such a pickle! I wasn't ever supposed to see her here. Mom never said a thing to me, even though she knew Karen was my worst enemy at school. I thought of all the years I came crying to her after Karen had bullied me—she would just hug me and distract me with my favorite movies and cheese pizzas saying things would be okay, I just had to be stronger and grow a thicker skin and try to tolerate Karen. After all, the world was a lot tougher than a bullying little girl.

I should have known what was behind that.

I got out of the car and went up. I peeked into Mom's office through the frosted window in the door—it appeared empty.

"Miss Gardener! Your mom will be out soon, she's in the lounge," the receptionist Amy said.

"Thank you, Amy," I replied to the receptionist. I glanced at Mom's office door again. It was so tempting to go in... to get some answers...

"Oh, Mr. Bartlett!" You're early! Mr. Sharan will see you in a few minutes," Amy, the receptionist, said to an elderly man who just walked in. I saw my chance while she was distracted. I squated so she wouldn't see me and snuck into the office. I shut the door and exhaled. Now to find that file.

I gave the desk a cursory look and spotted an open file marked 'Karen Kensington'. Jackpot. I picked it up and began to read.

"Diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder since the age of ten, severe anger management issues since the age of six, probably surfaced in early childhood..." I swallowed. It all made sense. I read through it quickly. Karen was also on medication from a psychiatrist besides getting therapy from Mom.

"I can't believe it! I actually feel bad for Karen now!" I said to myself. I wanted to read the rest but I knew Mom would be down soon and I had to be in the car when she was. I shut the file and snuck out of the office, ducking from Amy's field of vision once more.

"Thanks for waiting for me, hon. Amber must be getting hangry by now," Mom said, getting into the car beside me later.

"Yeah," I said, avoiding her eyes. We had a lot to talk about when we got home.

After the family was fed and Amber was safely in her room doing homework that evening, I hesitantly went to Mom's room. Dad was having an afternoon siesta while Mom was doing some browsing on her tablet.

"Hey, hon," she said looking up.

"Mom? Can we talk?" I asked cautiously.

"Of course. Let's go to the living room," she whispered, careful not to disturb Dad. Once we were on the couch, she spoke.

"Now what's this about? Is it a confession of breaking into my office?" She asked with a knowing look. My mouth fell open.

"How did you know?" I asked in surprise.