Good to see you again...

Thank you to everyone that responded to my little impromptu poll Friday.  I loved seeing where everyone is from and it was fun to chat with you guys.  You all also were so sweet, so thank you guys!  I'm trying to get three posts up this week since I have the long weekend on my side, so I'm posting this one a little early.  I'll probably post again late tomorrow or on Monday, then later in the week.
  __________________________________

On Tuesday I tried to catch Josh again to clarify what he told me about my new client, but he was still out.  It happened to be the day of my monthly one-on-one meeting with Kelly, and when she asked how my week was going so far, I told her about the incident.  "I feel like it didn't get us off to the best start," I admitted.  "I guess I need to take better notes."  Kelly was supportive and offered some feedback, and we moved on fairly quickly to talking about other things.  I really liked working for Kelly.  I always got great feedback and consultation from her, but she never hovered or micromanaged.  It was definitely my ideal supervision set up.

On Wednesday I got a group text from Kinsley, asking Lauren, Kendra, and I to have dinner with her that evening.  Lauren and I agreed but Kendra said she already had plans.  I was so excited to be able to sit down and have dinner with my two best friends here again.  Brody was still in Chicago, planning to be back sometime on Thursday, so I was happy to have something to do for the evening too.

My work day seemed to go slowly, but I finally made it to the restaurant Kinsley had picked.  We had a really great dinner and it felt great to be spending time with both Lauren and Kinsley again.  While we were lingering, finishing our last drinks, my phone rang.  I was surprised to see that it was Ken calling.  "I'd better take this," I said, apologizing to Lauren and Kinsley.  "Hello?"

"Olivia?  Hi, it's Ken.  What are the chances you're still in town?"

"I am, actually.  I'm just finishing up dinner with some friends.  What's up?"

"Oh good," he said, sounding relieved.  "The starter is out in my car.  I'm stuck at a friend's house.  Would you be able to pick me up on your way home?"

"That sucks," I replied sympathetically.  "Yeah, I can definitely pick you up.  Is it okay if I come when we're done?  It will probably be about a half hour."

"That's fine, thank you!"  He sounded relieved.  "I'll text you the address."  We hung up and a minute later I got a text of an address on the other side of town.  I groaned when I realized how far away it was, but it's not like Ken had many options.  It still made way more sense for me to pick him up than for one of his friends to bring him all the way out to our house.

When we headed out of the restaurant, we discovered the storm clouds that had been threatening all evening had finally opened up.  It was pouring, with occasional thunder and lightning.  We separated quickly, and I jogged to my car, glad I was wearing flats and not heels today.  When I got there, I put the address Ken had sent me into my phone's GPS and headed over in that direction.

It took me almost 45 minutes to get there.  I pulled up in front of the house and got out.  The front door opened and Ken ushered me inside.  "Dave is out in the garage, and he just texted that the tow truck is here, so I'm going to head back there.  It should only take a couple minutes, you can stay in here if you want."

"Sure," I agreed.  I was a little frustrated because I just wanted to get home, but I sat down on the couch and began scrolling through my Facebook feed on my phone.  Through the sheer curtains of Dave's front windows I saw a car pull up in front of the house.  I couldn't see much but the headlights in the driving rain, but I didn't think much of it until the front door opened.

Jordan looked just as surprised as I felt.  "You're not Dave," he said.  Fighting the panic that came immediately, I said nothing.  "What are you doing here?"

"Taking Ken home," I replied, trying my best for a calm, normal tone.

"Well," he said, his familiar creepy, leering smile spreading over his face, "It's good to see you again.  We didn't get much time to catch up last week, because that irritating boyfriend of yours was too busy trying to fight me."  I stared back at him, forcing my face to keep a bored, flat expression, and said nothing.  I assessed my options, but there really weren't any.  Jordan was still standing just inside the front door.  Ken had gone out through whatever room was directly behind the living room--probably the kitchen.  But I had no idea, because I'd never been here before.

When he got no reaction, he let me see his eyes rake over my body before lazily returning to make eye contact with me again.  "Where's your boyfriend today?  Or are you too busy with his brother to care?"  Again, I said nothing.  He took a few steps closer to me, leaning against the back of a chair near the door.  He watched me, gauging my reaction it seemed.  He was messing with my head, trying to get me to freak out.

"If you don't mind," I said cooly, standing, "I'm going to go see if Ken's ready to go."  Jordan's hungry stare swept my body again, lingering on my bare legs now that I was standing.

"And if I do mind?" he asked, stepping into the path I'd need to take to go towards whatever door Ken had disappeared through.  He continued towards me, and I stood perfectly still, fighting the urge to back up as he got closer.  He reached out and touched the short sleeve of my dress, and I yanked my shoulder out his reach.

"Don't touch me," I hissed, glaring at him.  I started to step around him, heading towards the front door and the relatively safety of my car, but he blocked my path with one step.  It was so similar to the night of my first encounter with him that my stomach churned.   He then took another step towards me and I kicked him in the knee as hard as I could, not willing to throw myself off balance enough to kick any higher.  My heel connected solidly with his kneecap, and he took a quick step back.

"What the fuck?" he yelped, bending down to grab his knee just as I heard an unseen door open and close.

"Olivia? ...Jordan?  What the hell are you doing here?" Ken asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.

"Well, I'm here to see Dave, but this bitch is apparently here to kick me in the fucking kneecap," Jordan growled.

"I'm sure you deserved that and worse," Ken said, hurrying over to me.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I spat, not taking my eyes off Jordan.  "Are you ready?"  He nodded and gestured towards the door.  I walked quickly out of the house and straight towards my car.  I fumbled with my keys on the way but had them out by the time I got there.  Ken was hot on my heels, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Olivia--" he started.

"I'm fine," I repeated.  I tried to put the keys in the ignition but my hands were shaking so badly I missed.  I tried again and dropped them.  "Shit," I muttered, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.  I found them after fumbling around on the floor for several seconds, then brought them back up the ignition.

"Do you want me to drive?" Ken asked gently.  When I still couldn't get the keys in the ignition, I sighed in resignation and dropped the keys in his hand.  We switched places, and I leaned my face against the cool glass of the window and took steady, deep breaths, trying to calm my racing pulse. Luckily, Ken didn't try to talk to me, he just drove.

When we got home, he parked in the garage and unlocked the door, then handed my keys back to me.  I dropped them in my purse and thanked him quietly.  Then I went upstairs.  I dropped my purse and my shoes and my clothes in a heap on the bedroom floor, then stepped into the shower.  As usual, I turned the water as hot as I could stand it and stood under the punishing spray, inhaling the steam.

I stayed in the shower for nearly 45 minutes, trying desperately to relax.  I was jittery, anxious, and jumpy.  When I realized my attempt to soothe myself was futile, I turned off the shower and reached for my towel.  Once I was dried off and dressed, I grabbed my Kindle and got into bed.  I was there for a couple minutes before I heard footsteps on the stairs.  Then there was a soft knock on the bedroom door.

"Come in," I called, not wanting to get up to actually open the door.  The door opened and Ken stepped into the doorway.

"Hey," he said quietly.  I managed a weak smile.  "I just wanted to say thanks for coming to get me.  And...I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," I replied, shrugging.  "You're welcome."

"I feel shitty about it, though.  Dave didn't know he was planning to stop by.  I wouldn't have made you wait if I would have known."

"Seriously, don't worry about it," I insisted.

He nodded.  "Do you need anything?"  I shook my head and thanked him, and he said goodnight and left, pulling the door closed gently behind him.

I read for nearly 3 hours before the edgy, jittery anxiety wore off enough for me to attempt sleep.  I put my Kindle aside and turned off the light, then proceeded to toss and turn for another two hours.  When I finally drifted off to sleep around 3am, it didn't last long.  I woke from a nightmare around 4am gasping, drenched in sweat, and tangled in the sheets.  Being tangled in the sheets freaked me out more and I ended up on the floor after a brief battle to free myself.  I sucked in a deep, shuddering breath and wiped at the tears on my cheeks.  "Get a hold of yourself," I muttered to myself in the dark.  "Jesus, Olivia."

I stumbled into the bathroom and rinsed the sweat and tears off my face with cool water, then pulled my sweaty hair back into a ponytail.  I got a drink of water and then walked back into the bedroom, before sitting heavily down onto the bed.  At this point, it seemed to make very little sense to try to sleep, but I laid back down anyway.  All I did was toss and turn until my alarm went off at 6:30.

I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom in a feeble attempt to get ready for the day.  After staring mindlessly at my comb in my hand for several seconds, I realized that I was too tired to be of any use to my clients today.  I couldn't, in good conscience, expect anyone to pay for a session with me today.  My head was swimming and I was shaky from not sleeping at all.  I had plenty of sick time, so even though I hated doing it, I called in for the day.

I got back in bed and read until I couldn't possibly keep my eyes open any longer.  With daylight peeking around the edges of the curtains, I finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

That sleep ended abruptly when someone touched my back.  I jerked awake and sat up, scrambling to the other side of the bed.  "It's just me," Brody said.  "Jesus, Liv.  I'm sorry.  It's me."  I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath.  "I'm sorry," he said again.  "I shouldn't have touched you."

"I don't know that you could have possibly woken me up without scaring me," I admitted.  "I'm a fucking mess."  I moved back over to my side of the bed and Brody climbed in bed next to me.  He settled himself next to me, stroking my arm tentatively.  I turned and buried my face in his shirt as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Ken told me what happened," he said.

"Is he here?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, he doesn't have a car."

"Oh, yeah."  The whole reason I had run into Jordan in the first place.

"He feels awful," Brody continued.

I shook my head.  "He shouldn't."

"But he does."  Brody was quiet for several seconds then said, "If that piece of shit so much as touched you, I will kill him."

"He didn't," I replied.  "I don't think he had any intention of doing anything but freaking me out.  He was just watching me, waiting for me to react.  When I didn't, he'd up the ante.  He just wanted to push my buttons."

"I might kill him anyway," Brody said, barely disguising the anger in his voice.

"If you do that, we won't be able to get married because you'll be in jail," I pointed out.  "I don't want to talk about it anymore.  What time is it, anyway?"

One of Brody's arms left me and he peered at his watch in the semi-dark room.  "Almost 2."

"In the afternoon?" I asked, surprised.

"In the afternoon," he confirmed.  I was glad that I got some sleep at least.

"Are you going in to work at all today?"

I felt him shrug.  "Nah, I don't think so."

"You don't have to not go in because of me," I said.

"I haven't seen you in three days, and you're home.  I want to be home with you," he replied.  "I missed you."

"I missed you too," I replied, snuggling closer to him.  We laid there for a few more minutes before Brody told me he was going to bring Ken into town to get his car, which was now fixed.  He asked if I wanted to come and I considered it.  "Can we stop and get lunch?  I'm hungry."

"We can stop wherever you want after we drop him off," Brody promised.  That was enough to get me up and dressed.  I felt refreshed after sleeping through the morning, and I felt a stab of guilt at calling in to work.  But logically I knew I would have done terrible work today and it was better for everyone that I stayed home.

The few hours of sleep I had gotten also gave me some distance from the events of the night before.  I was no longer shaky or jittery, but still felt a little jumpy.  I'd stopped seeing my own therapist when the nightmares of Jordan became almost non-existent, but I decided that after last night a couple sessions might be in order.  I called and left a message asking to schedule something while I waited for Brody to shower and get ready to take Ken into town.