Eternal Service Read Free Page A

year?”
    “Thirty–eight.” She was really thirty–nine.
    Micki smiled at her attractive, well put–together client. “Well, you appear much younger – probably due to all the workout and training you do.”
    Alex felt her cheeks flush as she flashed a smile. She brushed her shoulder length auburn hair behind her ears. “Thanks Micki. And thanks again for meeting me so early this morning.”
    “No problem,” Micki smiled. “Last week when we met you seemed a bit anxious about your age and the passing of time in general. How was your birthday?” Micki thumbed through the folder she kept with the details of the years of therapy she conducted with Alex.
    Alex cleared her throat. Growing older always worried her. She thought back to her birthday. “I’m slowly dying alone. I’m shriveling up and I’m lonely. So in every respect, my birthday remained the same as all the other days, except the day came with a Sara Lee individual, frozen, fat–free cake at the end of it.” Alex’s tone saddened as she played with her fingernails. She hung her head and avoided eye contact with Micki.
    “Why don’t you tell me a little about the day itself,” Micki suggested as she moved the box of Kleenex closer to her client.
    “There’s nothing to tell,” Alex said, settling deeper into the couch. “I’m getting older, and the few men I do attract are immature boys.”
    “Uh huh,” Micki studied her client’s folder, flipping back several pages. “Alex, try to remember how far you’ve come,” she said as she put down the folder and looked into Alex’s eyes. “Only a few years ago you were afraid to even date. Not only are you going out, you have had several dates this past month alone.”
    Alex glanced away. The increase of dates was directly proportionate to her birthday weeks ago. “I don’t think any of those guys count as real dates. In fact, one seemed more interested in my X–Box than he was with me, and believe me Micki, that isn’t a euphemism.”
    Micki leaned in, “Alex, you chose to date those men. You said ‘yes’ to their invitations to dinners and movies, but then you rejected the one who wanted to have sex with you.”
    Alex sighed and thought back to that moment. If she had eaten breakfast, it would be coming up right about now. Alex raised her voice in protest, “I don’t want to settle. I want a real man.”
    Micki nodded, “You’ve told me in the past what a ‘real man’ is for you, but I’d like for you to tell me again now that you’ve started dating again.”
    Alex rolled her eyes. “I don’t know,” she asserted, but mentally she thought back to the man she had been dreaming about as of late. She couldn’t completely make out all of his features, but the name Adonis came to mind. Her heart rate sped up just thinking about him and his dark hair, but she repeated, “I’m not sure what I’m looking for.”
    “Somewhere deep inside, you do know. And you also know why you went out on dates with those other men as well.”
    Alex crossed her arms and looked away from Micki, “I don’t want to talk about dating.”
    “All right, we can postpone this discussion for a few minutes. However, we will still need to address your dating choices. I can’t help you unless you’re open and honest with me.”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “Okay. We can come back to that later.” Micki picked up the folder and flipped through more pages. “Looks like over the last few years your career took off. You had two promotions … and now you’re up for another one. If you get the promotion, it will make you … ?”
    “‘Security Chief’ is the unofficial title,” Alex said, giving the woman an ambiguous job description. If she did accept the promotion, she couldn’t afford to allow a therapist to know exactly what she would be doing. It wasn’t as if she didn’t trust the woman; she just didn’t know her more than their therapy sessions. And even then, any personal