Lottie shook her head. “It’s someone who you’ll never win against. You need to get rid of that word from your vocabulary. Words are important. A word can change your life if you let it.”
No wonder he’d never won a match against MacNiven.
“Quite frankly,” Lottie continued, “you need a new word for your life. Because what word would you use to describe it?”
“Fucked up,” he said instantly. Then he thought of Jules. “But with promise.”
“That’s a phrase, not a word.”
He stared at the woman. “What word would you give my life?”
“I already told you.” She must have seen that he had no idea what she’d said to him because she sighed. “Lost.”
He frowned. “You really think I’m lost?”
“Yes.” She patted his arm as she stood up. “But don’t worry. I think I might know where to find a map to help you find yourself.”
“Where is it?” he asked skeptically, standing up too.
“Here.” She put her hand on his chest. “In your heart.”
He looked down at her hand on his shirt. It looked capable and felt caring. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to find anything in there. You’ll have to sift through a lot of shit.”
“No, you’re wrong there, big boy.” She grinned at him. “You’ll be sifting through the shit. I’m just going to hold up a flashlight to help you see.”
He glanced at her hand again. “You think that’ll work?”
“It will,” she answered assuredly. “If you want it to.”
He wanted it—badly. He just had to make sure he believed it too.
Fifteen
After Danny left from their first session, Lottie sat in her office, thinking about his situation.
Drugs were a major thing. In the shows on Netflix, drugs always led to violence. She knew TV was a dramatization of life and not real, but there had to be some truth in that, or else it wouldn’t be part of every story.
She was worried about Danny. She could feel that violence practically on his doorstep.
How was she going to help him get out of it? She had no idea. She understood his concerns—she didn’t agree with them, but she understood. The only way to change the situation, though, was to decide to do something different.
She didn’t get the sense that Danny was willing to do that.
So much for feeling empowered. She smoothed her old curls back from her face and wondered what she’d do if she were in Danny’s situation.
A knock sounded on her open door, and she looked up to see Jamie smiling in the doorway. “How’d your first day go?”
She waved him to a seat. “Well, I seem to have encountered a speedbump.”
“Want to talk about it?” he asked as he sat down.
“I think I need to, maybe even for ethical reasons.” She took a deep breath. “Danny says that the men living in his house are up to dubious things that include drugs.”
Jamie’s frown was immediate. “And he still won’t call the police?”
“He’s worried about his little brother getting in trouble, as well as himself. He and his friend founded a charity for kids.”
“What?” Jamie sat forward, his attention laser focused. “No one’s ever mentioned that.”