The Unforgivable Fix Read Online Free Page B

sighed noisily and looked out the window. Lydia knew Krystal was hearing the same story she’d heard from every social worker, parish nurse, teacher, physician, and guidance counselor she’d ever encountered.
    “And I know how you can do it. I can coach you. You do what I tell you to do and you can live a life better than anything you can imagine.”
    “So that’s it?” Krystal’s defenses were up. “I just turn into your little robot and everything will be aces and roses?” She snapped her gum again. “Like that’s ever gonna happen. I don’t let nobody control me.”
    “I can see that. Yet you just told me you’re afraid if you don’t change you’re going to die from AIDS.”
    Krystal stabbed a finger at Lydia. “I didn’t say that. I never said nothing about being afraid.”
    Lydia nodded. “Fair enough. You’re a woman of great courage.”
    Krystal pulled her too-small jacket tight and pouted.
    “What you said was that you were sick of your life,” Lydia continued. “And I know how you can change it.”
    Krystal crossed one leg over the other. “Like what? I should get religion or something? Join Amway? Maybe go into the army? Cuz I can tell you people been telling me all that stuff and none of it works.”
    “That’s because none of it can work.” Lydia crossed her own legs, mirroring her new patient. “All of that is outside. Change has to come from you.”
    “You’re not listening! What comes from me is spreading my legs any time a guy looks twice at me. You gotta figure out what happened to me. It’s gotta be some kind of thing from when I was a baby. Something I can’t remember got done to me to make me this way. I can’t change what I don’t know, right?”
    Lydia remained steady. “You don’t have to know why you’re this way. I really don’t care
why
you sleep with every guy you meet. I care
that
you do and
that
it bothers you. And I can coach you on how to do something different.”
    “Just like that? It’s that easy?”
    “Oh, no.” Lydia leaned forward. “This is very simple stuff, Krystal. But it’s as far from easy as you can ever think of. This is going to be hard. This is going to be work. Lucky for you I have lots of open times for us to get busy…You’re coming back tomorrow, by the way. And if you do what I tell you to do for six months, you’ll be amazed—stunned—at how different you are. Not just what you do, but who you are.”
    Krystal stared at Lydia for several long moments. “So it’s an inside job is what you’re saying.”
    Lydia returned the smile her patient offered. “It always is.”
    —
    Lydia was tired. She’d seen four patients. In the old days, that would have merely been her morning. She’d still have another four or five people on her schedule before calling it a day. But after so much time away, she was out of clinical shape. Fortunately her next appointment was with Zach Edwards, Sharon Luther’s postdoc. She wouldn’t have to flex any psychological muscles with him. Lydia was hoping the guy would be a few minutes late, but she heard the door to her reception room open right at the stroke of two. She rolled her shoulders, shook her arms loose, and went out to meet him.
    Zach appeared older than the twenty-six years Lydia knew him to be. He looked like a researcher. Just under six feet tall, no more than 170 pounds, with dull brown hair, well on its way to disappearing, that matched nondescript brown eyes. He wore baggy green corduroy trousers Lydia would bet came from the downtown Goodwill and a shabby sweater-vest that could have been a hand-me-down from his grandfather. They introduced themselves and Lydia invited him into her office.
    “Sharon sings your praises. Are you enjoying your time in her lab?”
    Zach wiped his palms across his knees and nodded. “Dr. Luther is incredible. You’ve read her work, I’m certain. She’s so brilliant. I love watching her. She can scan a page of data and instantly digest it into