SAVAGE

23

After spending an hour at the psychiatrist, the appointment was finally over. Jersey sat at the edge of the soft couch She looked around and examined the scenery before her.

Doctor Nguyen's office was furnished with comfortable decorations. She came up with the idea to make her office comfortable for her patients who visited her often. As expected, she had a lounging sofa-adjacent to her desk. Pillows crowded the chaise, along with a throw blanket that laid across the top of the sofa.

There was a coffee table that held a dish of candy such as peppermints, a large box of tissues, and some recent magazines. Her wall was decorated with degrees, awards, and achievements from her awesome work. She even had pictures of herself. Dr. Nguyen took pride in her work and it showed.

Jersey watched as her doctor took a sip of coffee from her mug. She had offered her some earlier, but Jersey declined. She often had the jitters after consuming coffee.

Her doctor placed her mug on her desk and leaned over to make eye contact with Jersey. Dr. Nguyen's black hair was down and parted evenly. She was of Asian descent-her slanted brown eyes, yellowish complexion, and small, button nose gave it away.

If it was up to Jersey, should would have picked a black woman as her doctor. The clinic did have a black psychiatrist, but she didn't see adults twenty-one and older.

Bummer.

However, Dr. Nguyen was great.

"I want to hear from you more, Jersey." Dr. Nguyen said sincerely. "We didn't talk that much about your problems. I mean, we talked about how the medicine is helping you sleep and think better. But that was it. I need for us to connect. You understand?"

Jersey darted her eyes-left to right- and placed them back on the doctor. There was no way in hell she was telling her doctor about her situation with Malcolm. It would be too weird to do so, in her opinion. Instead of declining, she just nodded her head and said, "Yes."

"So." The doctor trailed off as she grabbed a pen and scribbled away on her notepad. "I want you to get yourself a journal and I want you to write down your daily activities-each and every day. If you have any problems, any situations, write it down. We can talk about it. If not, then I'll recommend therapy for you."

Jersey just sat there watching her continue to write. She was more than ready to leave the office.

"I'll see you in about four weeks, that'll give you enough time to start it." The doctor ripped off the paper and held her arm out. Jersey thanked her quietly as she accepted it.

"So, I'm going to keep you on the same dosage since it is helping you." Dr. Nguyen informed her as she clicked away on her iMac. "Is that fine?"

"Perfect."

"I'll just send it off to CVS and you can pick up."

_____________________________

As soon as Jersey's foot hit the concrete, she felt relieved. She shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand as she made her way to the truck. Candace was sitting on the driver's side, waiting for her with the air blasting.

When Jersey hopped inside, she told Candace to take her straight to the library. Her appointment was for nine in the morning, so she managed to let her boss know that she would be coming in late.

Instead of bothering Candace who seemed to be in her own zone, she just decided to sit back and enjoy the ride. A small smirk etched across Jersey's lips as she thought about her past encounters. The thought of Malcolm confessing his feelings for her crossed her mind numerous of times. Part of her was elated that he finally opened up to her. However, she knew that he only confessed because he was afraid of her moving on with someone else.