InSight

appointment. Now it’s something else, and you weren’t here on time. I need you. Don’t you know that?”
    Of course, Jonah thought he was her only patient, but his words triggered something else. “What guy, Jonah?”
    “That tall, good-looking guy. You were crying. He came out of your office and you were crying. I saw the tears in your eyes, and you wore sunglasses after.” Jonah paused. “Is he your boyfriend?”
    Then it hit her. Jonah Wall was sitting in the waiting room when Luke told her about Mack Tollison’s evaluation. She needed to handle this delicately.
    “What did you think of that, Jonah? Were you angry?”
    “Yes, you shouldn’t have a boyfriend, Doctor Gallant, especially one who makes you cry. Things like that interfere with therapy. You lose concentration. I saw that. You didn’t care about me that day. You were too busy thinking about him. You didn’t care about me at all.”
    She remembered being upset and losing concentration, but she always put her patients first. Maybe she screwed up this time. “What other emotions did you have beside anger, Jonah?”
    “I don’t know. I just didn’t like it, that’s all. You don’t need a boyfriend.”
    “Do you have a girlfriend, Jonah?”
    “Shoot, you know I don’t. Girls don’t like me. They don’t like my looks. They think I’m fat and ugly. You don’t think that, do you, Doctor Gallant?”
    “You know I can’t judge your appearance, because I can’t see you.”
    “That’s right. You like me for who I am. That’s one of the reasons I like coming to you. You judge me as a person.”
    She’d been half joking when she said Jonah liked her because she couldn’t see him. Now she realized how true that had been. “Yes, I do, but now I have to ask you a question. It’s a very important question and I want you to answer truthfully, okay?”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Did you tell anyone about the man in my office?”
    He rustled in his seat but didn’t answer.
    “Did you, Jonah? Did you mention him to anyone?”
    “Um, I don’t know what you mean. Why would I do that?”
    “Maybe you didn’t mean to. Maybe you thought you were protecting me by telling, and the man couldn’t make me cry any more. Is that what you thought?”
    “You shouldn’t have a boyfriend who makes you cry,” Jonah said. “I wouldn’t make you cry. I would be nice to you all the time.”
    “I’m sure you would, but you can’t be my boyfriend, because you’re my patient. You know that’s wrong. You know a therapist can’t be involved with a patient in any other way, don’t you?”
    Oh, how silence reveals more than words.
    “Don’t you?” she repeated.
    “Yes.”
    “And you told, didn’t you?”
    He didn’t answer.
    “Do you know I could lose my license if anyone thinks I had a personal relationship with a patient? And if I lose my license, I won’t be able to see you anymore. Not ever.”
    “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
    Abby knew by his quivering voice that he verged on tears.
    “I wanted you to stop seeing him.”
    “So you called the South Carolina Psychological Association.”
    “Are you angry with me? Please say you’re not.”
    Putting her emotions aside for the moment and examining the situation objectively, Abby felt like an incompetent failure. Jonah Wall was infatuated with her, and she’d missed the textbook signs ― a troubled teenager embracing the only person he felt understood him. Abby didn’t know which was worse, his childish revenge or her lack of perception.
    “No, Jonah, but you’ve caused me a lot of anxiety. Right now, the Board of Ethics Committee is studying whether or not to expel me from my profession because of your complaint.” He sucked air through his nose ―the sound reminded her of radio static.
    “I’m sorry, Doctor Gallant. I was trying to protect you.” Another scratchy sniff. “Do you have a tissue?”
    She opened a drawer and handed him a tissue. “I am going to ask you to do the right thing and call the Psychological Association to tell them the truth. Will you do that, Jonah?” The foghorn sound he made when he blew his nose smothered any residual anger that conflicted with Abby’s guilt.
    “Yes, Doctor Gallant. Does this mean you won’t be able to see me anymore?”
    “Yes, I’m afraid it does. I’m sorry, but my effectiveness has been compromised. I’ll recommend someone else, but you need to make a serious effort to help yourself too.
    “Now I have to