Touch Me, Daddy
"There are slimy things and riptides and sharks in the ocean, Dr Ambrose. Did you know one of the girls was attacked last year? A bull shark bit half her arm off."
"I heard." The girl in question is one of my other patients, but I don't mention that, obviously. "So you swim in a pool. Tell me what you like about it."
The clock ticks on the bookcase, counting down our seconds together, and I wish I could stride over there and pinch the second hand. Hold it in place. My time with Gardenia always drains away too fast, and then I'm left with another cold, bleak week without her, obsessing over all the things she didn't say.