Make a Wish || Rhett and Link

Chapter 43 - Therapy

*****Rhett's Point of View*****

"Link, we've got to go shopping tomorrow." I announced in the car on the way home.

Link looked at me funny. "Why?"

"It's Cooper's birthday on Friday."

"Really?" He asked, shocked.

"Yeah. Randy told me. He wants me to call when we've decided what we're going to do." I said.

"Cooper didn't tell us..." Link said.

I nodded uncertainly. "I don't know why."

"You don't think it's because she doesn't want us to spend money on her, do you?" Link asked nervously.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

The car was silent.

"I think we should surprise her." I blurted out randomly.

"That could be awesome." Link agreed. "Where?"

"I dunno. Somewhere cool?" I suggested.

"Well, where do you think she'd like to go on her birthday?"

"I don't think we can go wrong with Disneyland." I shrugged. "Every kid wants to spend their birthday at Disneyland."

Link nodded in agreement. "That sounds pretty good. A surprise at Disney. I reckon that'll be the best."

I smiled. "Yeah. It'll be awesome."

We arrived home and I texted Randy with our plan, inviting him and his family to join us. He was a good guy, and we were becoming good friends.

"Hey Sweetie" Jessie smiled, planting a kiss on my cheek. "Where's Cooper?"

"Spending the night with her Uncle. Her choice, and they seemed to be reconnecting really well." I explained.

Jessie nodded. "Right. Well, I got a call today from a certain psychiatrist who said he had Cooper in for an appointment tomorrow."

I made a face. "She's not going to like that."

Jessie nodded. "I know. But it's good for her. She's been through, and is still going through a lot Rhett. It's easy to look past it with how happy you and Link make her, but she's still struggling. I see it a lot more than you do."

"How?" I asked.

"It's when you're not around. Normally when it's just me and her. I think I must remind her of her mother, because occasionally, when I say certain things, she just looks so broken and defeated. I just really want to hug her and make it all better, but I can't. Well, I do offer, but she normally just retreats to her room to try and calm herself down and bring herself back to reality. Plus you don't see how self-conscious she is about her appearance. She's been drawing on her own eyebrows with the eyebrow pencil I gave her."

"Huh?" I asked.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Chemo doesn't just make you lose the hair on the top of your head Rhett, it makes you lose ALL hair from head to toe. That includes eyebrows. Plus the way she fiddles with that beanie, it's not good. You need to take her to this therapy session Rhett, even if she doesn't want it. She needs it."

I nodded unsurely. "I didn't really see any of that."

Jessie smiled. "She does a better job of hiding it around you. She thinks the world of you Rhett, it's no big secret. And Link too. You're her idol. Even before she met you, you were her idol. She doesn't want to disappoint you, she just wants you to be proud of her."