Indiscretion: Callie Douglas - Book Four

Chapter Two

I gave Gabe a kiss good-bye and saw him out the door, locking it behind him. I wasn't sure if I was glad to be sleeping solo that night. I was still a little discomfited by the conversation I had with Gabe about moving in together, and I wasn't sure what to do. I checked the time. Early enough to call Ethan, but late enough that I would be able to talk with Ethan and Sophia without the children overhearing and hijacking the conversation.

Ethan and Sophia were friends of mine from when I lived in Boston. Ethan was the supervising psychiatrist overseeing my program when I was doing my residency. Sophia was his wife and, during my four years of residency, we became good friends. They have three little girls, and I'm the honorary aunt to them and the godmother to their youngest. When everything was going wrong with Michael, Sophia and Ethan were the ones who propped me up again. They were the ones who encouraged me to take the job here in Rockville, and they were the first of my friends and family that I introduced Gabe to. They became friends with him just as quickly as they had become friends with me, and we were talking about visiting them again at the end of February or early March for Sophia's birthday. Since we haven't seen them since Christmas, I was greatly looking forward to the visit.

I settled on the couch, cuddling under a blanket and putting my feet up, and picked up the phone. "Hi, Ethan", I said as I heard him answer the phone.

"Callie, hon! It's nice to hear from you. How are you doing?"

"Good. How are you?"

"Good. Jayne won a gold medal in her skating competition tonight. She'll want to tell you all about it when we talk on Saturday." I always talk to Ethan's family on Saturday at noon, usually over Skype so that I can see the children. It's one of my favourite times in the week.

"I'll look forward to hearing about it, and I'll look forward to seeing Jayne's medal online. How's your week been?"

"Good. Run of the mill. Mostly returning patients with one felon thrown in." Ethan is like me, a psychiatrist who has a regular practice but also performs psychiatric evaluations of felons. Unlike me, he doesn't provide profiling services and is very envious of the fact that my job has expanded to include those responsibilities.

"Was the felon anyone interesting?"

"It was. He was a person who had planted a bomb in a schoolyard, for no apparent reason. When I interviewed him it came out that his stepsisters had gone to that school several years before, and he wanted to blow up his stepsisters. He'd been missing several years in his memory and it didn't register with him that his stepsisters no longer attended that school. Luckily the bomb was discovered before it could go off and hurt anyone, and he was identified before he could plant another bomb. He's a very ill patient who loses significant periods of time and is easily confused. He can't be responsible for his actions. But, although this is interesting, I suspect that's not why you're calling. How are you doing?"

"Okay. I just needed someone to talk to."

"The doctor is in, hon. What's on your mind?" And that's the thing about Ethan. He can always make me smile and he always has all the time in the world for me.

"Gabe wants me to move in with him."

"I was waiting for this to happen. How do you feel about it?"

"I don't know. I want to in many ways. We're basically living together anyway. We're just splitting our time between living at my place and living at his. Generally, however, we spend our nights together."

"I hear a 'but' in there."

"There is one. I think I still need my own space, my own escape pod. I'm scared, Ethan."