THIS MIGHT BE INTERESTING (eBook)

JoJo Geller (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
276 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-9502-2 (ISBN)

Infos

The power of the therapeutic relationship is well-established, but what happens when both the doctor and patient have secrets?

JOJO GELLER is an attorney and teacher. She lives in Florida with her husband, Paul, just a few miles away from her two daughters and their families. When she isn't babysitting for her grandchildren, she enjoys hiking, biking, and yoga. This is her debut novel.

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THIS MIGHT BE INTERESTING tells the story of three individuals, who unknowingly become connected in a complicated, intense, and eventually frightening relationship. Bethany, a troubled young woman has seen many therapists in an attempt to address her underlying issues. At their wits end, Bethany's parents schedule a consultation with Rosalind, an atypical psychologist known for her unconventional approaches to treatment. The reader is continually surprised as the backstories of these two women are revealed. Their personal lives become intertwined when both women have chance meetings with Jules, a wood designer who finds himself drawn to Bethany. Set in modern-day New York City, these characters create the basis for a psychological journey that makes the reader question what dysfunction truly is and the depths we will go to for connection and love.

Textauszug

CHAPTER 8

Jules cleaned up the wine glasses and took Arnold out for his last walk of the evening. He was tired, but talking about Julia earlier that evening made him want to work on her corsage before he went to bed. When his eyes felt heavy and he no longer trusted himself to handle a knife, he brushed his teeth and got into his bed, thinking about Bethany having that intense orgasm just an hour or two earlier. As his eyes closed, Arnold jumped onto the bed and made himself comfortable near Jules’ feet.

THEN:

Fifteen-year-old Jules chugged milk straight from the carton, even though his mother admonished him whenever she caught him doing this. But she wasn’t home and he needed fluids and nutrition quickly, so milk seemed like the obvious choice. He and his friend Dennis had spent the hot August day together. Even though high school was not in session, the athletic department allowed students to come and use the gym as long as the proper consent forms and releases of liability were signed. They worked out together in the primitive and basic manner fifteen-year-old boys work out. No warm-up beforehand, no knowledge about what a balanced workout should look like, and no stretching afterwards. Just a lot of dumbbell curls to make their biceps look good. 

“Let’s be realists,” Dennis said. “No one looks at your calf muscles or your back. Babes just want to see big biceps.”

Jules found himself laughing uncontrollably. Neither one of them were unpopular, but neither one of them was routinely hanging out with babes other than the girls they were friendly with. And truth be told, Jules had a lot more experience with girls than Dennis, yet Dennis pretended to know what “babes” wanted.

“Dude, in this century,” Jules said. “I don’t think we call the female population ‘babes.’ Julia has made that crystal clear to me.”

Dennis’ face lit up at the mention of Julia. “Well, your sister is definitely a babe, so let’s get working on our biceps.”

“In a minute. First, I have to swallow the vomit that comes up whenever you say my sister’s name. You’re younger than her, you’re too stupid and ugly for her, and I’d kill you if you ever touched her.” Jules pretended to give his friend a right hook as punishment for even thinking of his sister in a sexual way.

“Does she ever talk about me? I know she’s going to be a senior this year, but we’re going to be sophomores, and babes hooking up with younger men is a very hot thing right now. Think of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutscher or Sandra Bullock and Ryan Gosling.”

“Seriously?” Jules asked. “Are you comparing yourself to Ashton Kutscher or Ryan Gosling?”

Dennis looked impatient. “No, I’m just asking if Julia ever talks about me.”

Jules pretended to be thinking about this. “Yes, she does. Whenever she tells me what she’s looking for in a guy, she says he needs to be nothing like Dennis. Can we please workout now?”

Both boys did numerous sets of curls with dumbbells that were too heavy for them and would have hurt their lower backs had they not been fifteen. The gym was relatively empty except for some of the older high school athletes doing pre-season training until a group of girls in their school year came in. Neither Jules nor Dennis knew all of them by name, but they immediately noticed Aisha. It was hard not to. She was gorgeous, with flawless skin and eyes that always seemed to be laughing. Aisha was the full package. Not only was she beautiful, but she was a phenomenal lacrosse player and crazy smart. It was the twenty-first century, so neither Jules nor Dennis could comprehend why girls sometimes acted like idiots in front of guys. Who wanted a dumb girlfriend?

Dennis let go of his thoughts about Julia. She was amazing, but there was no way she would ever be interested in her younger brother’s friend. He would have to settle for the small bits of attention she gave him when he visited Jules. Aisha, on the other hand, was his age and totally attainable. Smacking Jules’ arm with his hand, he motioned to the group of girls, signaling that they should go talk with them.

Jules followed Dennis who walked directly towards the girls who were standing in a circle. “Well this gym just got a whole lot more interesting when you all walked in,” he said to the group. 

Jules had to stifle a laugh. What his best friend lacked in experience with girls, he made up for with confidence. Easy chitchat was exchanged between the group, most of whom had gone through middle school together. Dennis was not very subtle at his attempts to engage Aisha, Jules noticed, much to his amusement.

“Are you taking regular chem or chem honors?” she asked the boys.

“Regular,” said Dennis. 

“What about you, Jules?” she asked, gently tapping her finger on his shoulder in a slightly flirtatious way.

“Honors. My sister said it was hard, but the class is weighted so I’m going to go for it.”

Turning so that she faced slightly away from her friends, Aisha turned all her attention to Jules. “My sister said those exact words.” Aisha’s sister and Julia were in the same grade. “She also told me that it really helps to have a study partner. What do you think? Are you interested?”

Jules paused. Was she asking if he was interested in her or interested in studying with her? What difference did that possibly make? The answer to either question would be a definitive “yes.”

“Yes,” he said to Aisha instead of himself this time. Emboldened by her offer, he added, “Do you want to hang out this weekend? Only two more weeks before school starts.”

“I think I can make some time for you,” Aisha said, flashing her incredible smile at him. “Call me.”

The group dispersed as the girls went to the stretching mats to warm up for their workout, and Dennis and Jules picked up the free weights they had been lifting and brought them to the rack.

“Unfucking believable,” Dennis muttered. And to Jules he said, “How does someone with such a feminine first name and eyelashes that look like you’re wearing mascara get girls to be so interested in him?”

Jules jokingly blinked several times, accentuating what truly were incredible eyelashes. “Hmmm, let me think about that one. Oh yeah. I’m smart, I’m good-looking, and I don’t act like a pathetic puppy dog around girls the way you do.”

“Ouch,” Dennis said.

“Let’s go,” Jules said. I’ve got a joint in my pocket and I have to plan what I’m going to do with Aisha this weekend while you stay home and jerk off!”

The rest of the day was long, but in the good way that late August days can be when you have no responsibilities and you’re with your best friend. The two rode their bicycles away from the school to a quiet street to smoke Jules’ joint. They bought some junk food, which they ate during the ride over to the park and played hoops until the heat took its toll on both of them. 

Replaying the excellent day in his head as he chugged the milk and thought of Aisha, he barely heard the front door open. Almost immediately, he felt heaviness in the air as his parents and Julia walked in. His mind did a quick connecting of the dots. Julia had been complaining about feeling tired all the time. She had definitely lost weight and her dark creamy skin looked slightly yellow. Their doctor had ordered some blood work and suggested they speak with another doctor; that appointment had been this afternoon. Julia ignored her brother and went straight to her room, so Jules approached his parents, both of whom walked past him and sat at the kitchen table.

“What’s up?” Jules asked. “Is Julia sick? Does she need surgery or something? Did the doctor give her vitamins to boost her energy? Did he explain why her skin looks so funny?”

No one answered Jules’ litany of questions, but he noticed his mother was fighting back tears, and he was both old enough and smart enough to realize that whatever his parents said next was going to divide his life into two parts: Everything that had happened before this day and everything that was going to follow.

Jules’ father prefaced his answer. “You’re old enough to be treated like an adult, and our family is going to deal with this together and help Julia.”

Jules listened as his parents feebly attempted to be clear and direct, though it didn’t matter since he only retained a few of the words and phrases they used. “Elevated bilirubin, jaundice, liver functions, malignancy, five-year survival rates, chemo, potential bone marrow match….”

But only one word really mattered. Leukemia. Julia had leukemia. Julia. He was just teasing Dennis this afternoon about the obvious infatuation Dennis had with Julia, and now she had a serious form of cancer. 

His parents were still talking but he left the table, knocked on the door to Julia’s room, and without waiting for her to respond, he entered. Much to his surprise, Julia was not sobbing. She wasn’t even crying. She was actually sitting on her way-too-girly bed with the pink quilt and tons of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.3.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-9502-2 / 9798350995022