Chapter 3...it's not as long as the others have been. Oh well.
“Quiet on the set!” Abbey took a seat next to Frankie as they watched his three older brothers grace the set with their presence.
“Crap!” Jay muttered as one of the lights began to flicker. “Sorry. It’ll just take a second.” The overhead lights came on as everyone waited for her to change the light bulb.
“I do not have time for this.” The voice from the brother with straight hair rang out.
“That’s Joe.” Frankie pointed at his older brother. “The one who just walked off is Nick. And then Kevin.” Abbey nodded.
“Ok. Why did Nick leave? Doesn’t he have some sort of chat he has to do?”
“Oh, that. Yeah. I don’t know why he doesn’t like them. It’s fun to talk to lots of different people.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he just gets tired of talking to different people. Like you, you want to talk to people because you don’t; he doesn’t want to talk to people because he does. Make sense?” Abbey received another shrug. Finally, though, the light was fixed.
“Sorry about that.” Jay apologized, and dashed off the set.
“Where the hell is Nick?” Kevin barked. Without warning, Mr. Jonas popped up beside Abbey.
“Ms. Stewart, I need to speak with you, please.” He gestured back towards the dressing room area. She nodded, and followed him to an empty room.
“Is everything ok?”
“I need to make sure that none of what you’re seeing or hearing now, as well as what you may see or hear in the future will be leaked to the press.”
“Mr. Jonas, I assure you, I take doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously. As I told Mrs. Jonas, you have the right to take legal action against any doctor that doesn’t. The only reason any doctor might break the confidentiality is if not telling might result in injury or death to either the patient or someone else. The exact legality will be discussed in a contract I have all of my patients sign.” Even though he nodded, she could tell he was still unsure. “I realize that counseling may make you uncomfortable, and please understand that you are free to quit at any time in the process. But also understand that unless your sons grasp the concept that the way things are going isn’t working, the situation is, more than likely, going to worsen.” He shifted uneasily from foot to foot.
“Alright. How do we set up the scheduling?”
“I usually have hour long sessions. My professional opinion would be individual sessions for each of your four sons, once a week. But, I also think that perhaps, to start things off, the whole family comes in for a group session. If your sons see that you are accepting of counseling, chances are they will be receptive to it also.”
“You want to see Frankie?” Mr. Jonas wore a puzzled expression.
“Mr. Jonas, your youngest son is lonely. There is no one his own age for him to play with, interact with. I’d like to at least offer him someone to talk to.” He nodded, but she could tell his mind was elsewhere.
