Anna opened her eyes and sighed. A lone sunbeam of early morning light broke through a crack in the blinds and settled itself across her face, causing her to squint and sit up in bed in order to escape it. She ran a hand through her already sleep-tousled, honey-blonde hair and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It glumly blinked 6:02 am in glaring red numbers. Waking up at that hour wouldn't be so bad it if weren't for the fact she had finally fallen asleep only two hours prior.
Anna wrapped her arms around her upwards drawn legs and rested her chin pensively on her knees, staring without really seeing at her moss-coloured blanket that covered her legs. Her mind was blank as she flipped through her mental catalogue to see what the last thing she could remember was. Try as she might, she could only remember crawling into bed at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning after a late night of reading and fervently urging herself to grow tired enough to sleep without much avail. No lasting remnants of a dream she may have had during the night rose to the forefront, which confirmed her suspicion and made her sigh again; this time in a defeated, lonely sort of way.
The sunbeam shifted across her pillow ever so slightly as her clock ticked away the minutes, and when it drudgingly changed to 6:09, Anne finally willed herself out of bed. As she went through her usual morning routine of showering, making her coffee, and preparing a brown-bag lunch; Anna ticked through her mental calendar of clients she would be seeing today. She refreshed their faces in her mind and why they would be coming to see her. She had six appointments scheduled, from what she could remember of her schedule: five of them clients she had seen before, but one of them new. Anna thoughtfully gathered her purse, briefcase, and other belongings before sending one more searching glance through her front entryway to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything, before closing and locking her front door behind her.
The Northern Virginian late summer morning light was warm on her face, contrasting against the cool breeze that rippled through the trees and played with stray tendrils of Anna's long hair. It was early September, and while this time of year in the northern part of the state was usually notoriously hot, this year seemed to follow the traditional seasons more accordingly. The weather had cooled dramatically since Anna changed her calendar over from August to September, and it was a change she welcomed happily. There was nothing she loved more than curling up on her front porch swing with a warm blanket and mug of pumpkin spice coffee with a good book as the leaves wore their vibrant autumn fare and gradually fell to the ground in a lush blanket. Pretty soon she would be turning the calendar to October and carving pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns with her nieces and nephew. With those happy thoughts in mind, permanently replacing the troubling thoughts of the early morning, Anna made the long commute into work with a much lighter heart and even a half smile playing about her lips.
"Good morning, Dr. Hickox!" came a sing-songy voice as Anna stepped into the front door of her main office. Her secretary wore a bright smile and gave a small wave from her seat behind the reception desk. Her pixie-like features were alert and friendly, with corn-flower blue eyes shining from beneath a fringe of platinum blonde hair. Often mistaken for being as young as thirteen, Beth was actually a second year grad student, working for Anna's practice as the receptionist for both the extra money and the tutelage in the field she aspired to work in.
"Morning, Beth," Anna welcomed with a warm smile, closing the office door behind her. As she walked past the reception desk, Beth leapt to her feet with a pad of paper in her hand and followed closely behind Anna.
"So, Mr. Jordan called again wanting to talk to you. I told him you still weren't in just yet and were booked up for the day, but he was insistent on talking to you today. Said he would call back a thousand times if he had to… And then Ms. Wilshire called about her daughter's appointment this morning; said she may be a tad late," Beth recited, reading from her scribbled notepad as she walked right behind Anna into her personal office. Anna shed her many belongings on a console table against the wall near the door, as she listened to Beth read through the many messages she had already accumulated this morning. She grimaced at the mention of Mr. Jordan – who had called nearly fifty times the day before and apparently wasn't going to quit – but paused a moment at the message from Ms. Wilshire.
"Did Wilshire say why her daughter would be late?" she asked Beth. Beth glanced up and simply shook her head and shrugged before returning her eyes to the page.
"Mr. Evans called – again; so did his wife. They both want you to call them back, separately, of course. Let's see," Beth flipped to the next page. Anna inwardly groaned at the amounting work she already had to complete and shed the dove grey trench coat she had been wearing, hanging it on the coat tree before turning to her desk and pressing the power button on her laptop that sat upon its shiny, mahogany surface. "Oh! And Ms. Shale called to cancel her appointment for today, so you only have the new client in the afternoon; a Mr. John Smith." Anna nodded in approval as she settled into the leather office chair behind her desk and opened her email. The name of her new client sounded familiar, but then again it was also the go-to generic male name in many different situations, so no wonder the name caught her attention.
"Thank you, Beth. I'll try and return some of those calls before Wilshire arrives," Anna said, indicating her first client of the morning. Beth smiled brightly again and trilled a quick "You're welcome!" before almost bouncing out of Anna's office, shutting the door firmly behind her. Anna released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when Beth left the room. The girl was overtly kind and incredibly smart, but her enthusiasm was sometimes a bit too much to handle, especially first thing in the mornings. Anna settled further into her snug office chair as she flipped through her email, discarding the spam and sending succinct responses when necessary.
Her office was small and cozy, but clean and organized. Her large, mahogany desk had been a gift from her parents when she had first opened her practice, and it took up nearly a third of the room with its impressive size. Scattered across its surface were various papers and notes Anna had yet to file away or was currently working on, her laptop, a small antique desk lamp, and her planner. Two plush, leather armchairs sat facing her desk and beyond the small open space behind them, up against the far wall, was the console table Anna used as a dumping ground for her personal belongings. Bookshelves rose from the floor to the ceiling and took up the entire wall behind Anna. They were filled with various text books, published papers and reports from her field. The empty sections of the other three walls of her office held a few decorative pictures of landscapes, but also framed pages and covers of magazines that were important to her and spoke of her life's work: 2009 cover of Psychology Today"Interview with one of country's highly renowned psychiatrists – Dr. Anna Hickox"; article from 2010 print of Scientific American Mind detailing one of Anna's recently published studies "Cognition and Memory: The Effect on the Human Brain as it relates to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder"; 2012 cover of Psychology Today exclaiming "Leaps and Bounds Made in Study of Cognition and Memory by Dr. Anna Hickox." Anna's graduate and doctoral degrees hung framed over the console table, along with framed originals of her license and certifications.
Anna had accomplished a lot in her nearly 31 years of life, but the thought of it all just made her tired. Often times she wished she had opted for the life of her sister, a stay at home mother of three, rather than spending a decade in school to work a job where she felt underappreciated and severely overworked. Hell, she could've landed a job with the same kind of feeling right out of high school at the local diner as a waitress. But her natural ability at reading and understanding people coupled with her love of science drove her down this path and kept her interested and passionate about it. Her drive to achieve her degrees really began when she was but thirteen years old and –
Anna shook her head to clear her mind.
"Shut up," she whispered aloud to herself vehemently and picked up the phone to call back the insufferable Mr. Jordan.
Hours later Anna was quickly finishing the turkey and cheese sandwich she had brought from home as her lunch. She sat in her office at her desk, simultaneously taking bites of the sandwich as she typed away at her laptop, completing her notes from the last appointment she had of the morning. Beth's cheerful voice drifted in through her office door that had been left open a crack from the last time Beth had made her way in with a message and failed to fully close the door behind her. She was taking her lunch break too, and from the sound of it, chatting with her boyfriend-of-the-month. Was Hank his name? Or was it Kevin?Anna shook her head to herself. She could never keep Beth's boyfriends straight in her head and was surprised Beth was able to. As Anna popped the last bit of her sandwich into her mouth and clicked the "Save" icon on the document, the main office door jingled faintly, most likely indicating the arrival of her afternoon client.
"Good afternoon!" Anna heard Beth gush to the new arrival. A muffled male voice responded to Beth and Anna stood, brushing crumbs from her simple white t-shirt, as she listened to Beth go through the process of checking the new client into the appointment system. Anna bent and rifled through the stack of papers on the right hand side of her desk in search of the file of her afternoon client Beth had prepared for her. She finally located it, dropped it on top of the rest of the items on her desk, and flipped it open. A frown immediately formed on her lips when she discovered the file only had one paper in it with the client's name, basic contact information, and date and time of appointment.
"Beth, come in here please?" Anna called to her receptionist. Anna heard as Beth excused herself hurriedly and no more than five seconds later, burst into her office, her face flushed and eyes dancing.
"Oh Dr. Hickox, he's cute!"she practically sang. Anna ignored Beth's clear infatuation and showed her the nearly empty folder before her.
"Where's the rest of the information? Why is Mr. Smith here?" she asked. Beth snapped out of her mental reverie, a look of absent confusion replacing the former expression of puppy-love.
"He never said, actually. He said that it was a private matter he knew concerned your specialty and he would discuss it with you during his appointment. He was pretty adamant to see you at short notice; I just booked his appointment earlier this week,"Beth explained. Anna's frown deepened slightly and a crease formed between her eyebrows.
"Ok then," she sighed, flipping the essentially useless folder closed. "Send him into my office here, then, instead of setting him up in the Client Room." Beth nodded, her face betraying her eagerness to get back to the mysterious John Smith and she hurried out of the office. Anna furiously brushed her clothing with her hands, shooing away any remaining bread crumbs that may have lingered from her lunch. A quick glance in her pocket mirror assured her that there was nothing in her teeth and her hair and makeup remained agreeable. As Anna replaced her small mirror in the upper desk drawer it called home, her office door opened and John Smith walked in.
Anna's first thought was that Beth was right: he was cute. Mr. John Smith appeared to be roughly Anna's age, perhaps give or take a year or two, and had a boyish face. He had short, dark hair that was neatly slicked back, lending to the professional air his posture and clothes also gave off. The man was thin, but Anna could tell he had a sinewy-type muscular build in the fluid way he moved across her office towards her. His clothes were tailored and fit impeccably well: white dress shirt with a deep, red tie and charcoal slacks with a matching vest. His suit jacket was draped over his left arm as his right was outstretched towards her.
"Dr. Hickox," he said in greeting, a warm smile gracing his lips. Anna was temporarily stunned at John's appearance, and it took her a full moment to match his smile with one of her own and grip his outstretched hand in return. His hand was warm and firm; soft but callused. Did he work with his hands in his profession or as a hobby?
"Mr. Smith, it's good to meet you," Anna stated as they shook hands, mentally scolding herself for being so unprofessional. "I'll admit your appointment this afternoon is a bit of a mystery to me." A sly, half-smile played about the young man's lips and he chuckled.
"Yes, well, you're a bit hard to get a hold of by phone so I figured making an appointment to physically meet you was the next best thing," he said. Something about what he had said began to jog Anna's memory and her eyes briefly narrowed in thought.
"You're the one who's been calling my office constantly, without telling my receptionist what it was you wanted. Just that I call you back. I remember her mentioning 'Smith'," Anna stated, remembering now. John's wry smile fully developed on his lips and he nodded.
"That would be me. It was important I speak to you in a private manner, so I wasn't too keen on sharing the details with others – kind as they may be," he explained, spreading his hands briefly before settling them in the pockets of his slacks casually. Anna nodded, taking in this information, but couldn't budge the disconcerting feeling growing in her stomach. Why would someone go through all of this trouble to speak to her without any explanation? Anna suddenly felt very uneasy being alone in her small office with this man, so she backed up as nonchalantly as she could until her desk was between her and Mr. Smith and settled slowly into her office chair. He may be young, handsome, and charming; but the worst of the worst she had dealt with in years prior often were the same. She motioned towards the arm chairs set before her desk.
"Please sit down. Now that you have my attention, what is it you wanted to speak with me about?" John nodded his head graciously before sitting in one of the chairs before her.
"I'm very familiar with your work, Dr. Hickox. A big fan, I guess you could say," John Smith started slowly, his deep brown eyes trained on Anna's speculative jade ones. "I have a sort of proposition for you, and the work would be right up your alley of expertise."
"Mr. Smith, I must thank you for your time and effort, but I am happily employed and-"Anna started, half-rising out of her chair when she realized where this was going. But John rose with her and held out a hand.
"Wait! I'm not asking you to quit your job or come work for me in some seedy company," he spoke quickly and reassuringly. Anna paused her momentum out of her chair and instead slowly sank back down into it. When John saw that she wasn't going to protest again, he too sat back down, smoothed his hands over his vest, and leaned towards her. "What I'm proposing is a side venture; something completely unique and would only require your attention sporadically or more consistently – it's up to you." Anna leaned back in her office chair, the leather squeaking quietly as she clasped her hands in her lap expectantly. Her eyes were trained coolly on John.
"Go on," she encouraged. Her interest had been piqued by John's mysterious and vague introduction. John smiled.
"Before I continue, let me properly introduce myself. Please, call me Arthur."