The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 216

Chapter 195: Healing Together

Caleb POV

I cleared my calendar on a Wednesday morning and told James I needed three weeks.

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James, my assistant of years, had never heard me ask for even one full week off. He was quiet for a long moment before saying, “I’ll reschedule everything possible and delegate the rest. Is there anything else I can do?”

“Tom has therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” I said. “Make sure nothing ever lands on those days.”

“Done,” James said.

There was a brief pause before James spoke again.

“Sir,” he said, in a careful tone. “I want to say-I think this is the right call.”

James never offered opinions on my personal life. In years of working together, he had always just done the job. It was why I trusted him completely.

“Thank you, James,” I said.

“Tom is a remarkable boy,” he said. “The whole office has been-we’ve all been thinking about him.”

Looking at all the new white space on my calendar, I felt a wave of complete, physical relief.

‘Tell them thank you,” I said. “From both of us.”

‘I will,” James said. “I’ll hold everything. Take the time you need.”

Dr. Abara ran our family sessions on Friday mornings. We sat in her comfortable office-me, Bella, Tom, and baby Grace chewing on a board book-to talk about everything that had happened.

Tom, as it turned out, had strong opinions about family therapy

“Why do we have to talk about feelings here?” he asked during our session, genuinely qurious. “We can just talk about feelings at home.”

“Do you?” Dr. Abara asked.

Tom thought about it. “Sometimes. Dad doesn’t always know the name of his feelings. Mummy knows the names but she keeps them inside her mouth.”

Bella let out a half-laugh.

“What about you?” Dr. Abara asked him.

“I know what they’re called and I say them,” Tom said. “But it doesn’t always make them go away. Sometimes feelings just stay even after you name them.”

“That’s exactly right,” Dr. Abara said. “Can you tell me what feeling you have today?”

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Chapter 195 feeling Together

Tem thought for a long moment, pressing his hand flat on his knee. “A bit worried,” he said. “About our house. If we’re all inside, I’m okay. But when someone goes outside, my tummy feels funny.”

“Funny how?”

“Like the floor is moving,” he said. “Like when you’re on a boat.”

The room was very quiet for a moment.

Dr. Abara leaned forward. “Tom, does that happen when anyone goes outside? Or just some people?”

Clare

Tom thought carefully. “More when Mummy goes,” he said. “Mummy goes to work, and work is really far away. But when Dad goes outside, I can see him on the balcony from the chair.”

I felt a tight knot form in my chest.

“Thank you for telling us,” Dr. Abara said. “That is very helpful.”

Tom nodded. He had been doing this in our sessions-bringing up big things he had been thinking about, looking relieved just to say them out loud.

“Can you fix it?” he asked her. “The boat feeling?”

“We can work on it together,” she said. “You, me, and your parents.”

He thought about this. “What do we do?”

“We practice,” she said. “Very slowly and safely. Until your body learns that when someone goes outside, they always come back.”

Tom looked at me, then at Bella.

“They always come back,” he said quietly, mostly to himself.

“Yes,” I said. “We always come back.”

He pressed his hand flat on his knee and nodded once, satisfied.

I didn’t look at Bella. I knew if I did, I would start to cry, and Tom was watching everything.

Progress was slow and bumpy, just like Dr. Abara said it would be.

୮

But there were good days. Two weeks in, Tom and I sat on the edge of the terrace, the large glass doors slid wide open right behind us. I held my wine, and Tom held his juice, his small knees tucked to his chest as we looked out at the city skyline.

We sat for a while without talking. Since the warehouse, Tom had grown comfortable with silence.

Then he said, “Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Do

you think the city knows we’re looking at it?”

I thought about it seriously. “I think cities notice more than we think they do.”

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<Chapter 195 Meeling Together

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He seemed satisfied with that as he sipped his juice. “I can see our window from here,” he said, pointing at The living room glass. “If I look, I can see inside.”

“You can,” I said.

“That means if I was inside, could see us out here.”

“Yes.”

He stared at the window, focused, like he had just solved a hard puzzle. “So if I’m inside and you’re out here, we can both still see each other.”

I looked at him. “That’s exactly right. Both ways.”

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