They didn't change anything directly. That was the mutual agreement they'd reached without fully stating it. Ava Sessions continued. Natalie remained professional inside suite 310. Caleb remained appropriate in the waiting room.
Nothing happened that anyone could point to except that things kept happening. The November session. After their parking lot conversation, Nackly Natalie appeared in the waiting room 10 minutes before the session should have ended. Caleb looked up from his paperwork. Everything okay?
She asked to stop early. She said she'd said everything she needed to say today. And she wanted to see what you were doing. She actually said that word for word. I want to see what my dad's doing.
Then she straightened up her area and waited by the door. He looked at his paperwork. Efficient. Extremely. Ava appeared beside Natalie in the doorway.
Backpack on. Coat already zipped. Hi, Dad. Hi, bug. Finished.
For today. For today, he repeated. He looked at Natalie. She was watching Ava with that expression again. The unguarded warmth.
The thing she didn't seem to know was visible. Ava, he said it carefully. Do you want to ask Dr. Whitmore if she has time for a coffee or something? On the way out, Ava's head turned to him with the speed of a child who has been waiting for an adult to figure something out for a very long time.
She turned to Natalie. Do you have time? Natalie looked at Caleb. He looked back at her. An entire conversation happened in the space between those two glances.
I have time, Natalie said. Ava reached up and took Natalie's hand. She took it naturally. Without calculation, the way she took Caleb's hand simply because she decided. Natalie looked down at the small hand in hers.
Something crossed her face that she didn't manage. There's a coffee place on the corner, Ava said. Dad always gets the dark roast. It's too strong for me, but he likes it. Dark roast, Natalie said.