Whole Lot More

Chapter Forty Seven

Chapter Forty Seven

First thing the next morning Brynne walked in to the office of the therapist her parents had suggested. According to them, she was the best in town and they had gotten numerous recommendations about her from friends around town that had seen her.

"Can I help you?"

"Brynne Matthews, I'm here to see Dr. Avery."

"If you want to have a seat Ms. Matthews, she will see you in just a moment."

Brynne sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting room and nervously wrung her hands together; this was hard for her being in the therapist's office and just admitting that maybe she did need some help to get her to a point where she could move on with her life.

Whatever that meant; she hoped the doctor hurried up before she chickened out and went running out of the office.

"Brynne Matthews?" A middle-aged woman with black hair and glasses stood in the open office door, "I can see you now."

Silently Brynne followed the doctor into her office and sat uncomfortably on the couch across from the therapist already nervous enough to feel like she was going to throw up. Why had she thought this was a good idea in the first place?

"Good morning Ms. Matthews, my name is Dr. Martha Avery, but I prefer to go by Dr. Avery. How are you this morning?"

"I'm alright."

Silence lapsed through the office for a minute, "Okay so Brynne, why don't you tell me why you're here today."

Brynne swallowed, "I don't even know why I am here."

"Well, why don't we start with the essential things; what is bothering you today?"

Oh I don't know, Brynne thought with a sarcastic smile. "I don't know, where do I begin?"

"How about from the beginning?"

Easier said than done lady.

"Five years ago my husband died. Five days ago was the fifth anniversary. The club we built together in Boston burned down on that day. I met a man about eight months ago and fell hard for him; a month ago, his ex-girlfriend showed up on his doorstep pregnant; he had known about it and not told me."

Brynne gave the therapist a grim smile, What do you think about that lady?

*

It was weird to walk in to some place with such a negative outlook on things and to walk out feeling almost like a completely different person.

I guess that's her job, though... to make you feel almost human again

Her struggle was a long way from over, there was no way one appointment with a therapist was going to fix everything, but she certainly felt like somewhat of a new person.

Dr. Avery had helped her realize she couldn't stay bitter at Martin – yes, he had hurt her by not telling her about Kaleen being pregnant, but he was obviously sorry about it now; she couldn't live her life by staying mad at everyone who had ever hurt her.

And that she shouldn't give up on the club.

"What is one good thing in your life?" the doctor asked.

"The club. It's my one sense of accomplishment. I have put everything I am and could be into every little piece of that club. Or I did before it burned to the ground."

She had made her realize that yes, the club had burned down, and as tragic and heartbreaking as that was for her, what was stopping her from continuing on the name? From building Fusion somewhere different? From starting over?

*

Her parents noticed the immediate change in her behavior, her mannerisms. It was almost like the old Brynne was back, at least in some ways.

She sat down to dinner that night with a smile on her face.

"How did your appointment go today, Brynne?"

"It was good," Brynne nodded, "Dr. Avery was nice."

"Well that's nice sweetheart, will you be seeing her again?"

"Yes mom," she said, "I think I will be. At least for a little while."

"Only a little while? Why's that?" her dad asked.

"Because Dr. Avery made me realize something today." Everyone sat in silence, waiting for Brynne to continue. "She made me realize that even though the club burned down, that's not the end. She made me realize that what is stopping me right now from starting to re-build the club somewhere new? Somewhere different? Not here and not in Boston, but finding some place new and starting over again."

Her parents sat, stunned. This was such a transformation from what they'd seen out of her the past couple days. "Well, that's great honey."

Brynne nodded, "Yeah. I'm going to start looking online and such for large spaces for sale. Maybe I can find one someplace I've never been before. That would be exciting."

*

Martin ran out of the airport and grabbed the first cab he could find, telling the driver Brynne's address.

He nervously wrung his hands together, wishing traffic wasn't so horrible and the driver could drive a little faster. His stomach flipped, his palms wet with sweat, he was downright nervous not knowing how to expect his reception at Brynne's door to go.

When the driver drove through downtown and Martin saw the burned remains of the club, his heart dropped. All of Brynne's hard work, gone just like that.

Minutes later, the cab pulled up outside her apartment complex and he paid the driver, not even wasting any time in casually walking to the stairs, he just full out ran.

He was up to her apartment door in less than a minute, out of breath and knocking loudly on her door. "Brynne? Are you in there? Please open the door! I need to talk to you!" One minute passed. Then two minutes, five minutes. He knocked and knocked and knocked some more, never getting an answer.

But he was going to get in there, no matter what it took. He grabbed the spare key from under the rug, her secret place she had once told him. He didn't care that it wasn't really secret, and that anyone who wanted to get into her apartment would check there first, because today it meant he was able to get in too.

"Brynne, I'm coming in. It's just me, Martin. Please don't shoot me, or sic Lucky on me or something. I just want to talk!"

He opened the door and froze. Her furniture was there, the apartment was clean nothing like Josh had said it was when he had been there. Maybe that's a good sign.

He walked into the kitchen, something not sitting right with him. Something was off, but he couldn't place his finger on it. "Brynne? Lucky? Is anyone here?" He walked down the hall and through her bedroom door and stopped dead. "Brynne!" he yelled, collapsing to the floor with his head in his hands.

No Lucky. No Brynne. There was nothing.

Brynne was gone.

*