29

“From above you, thick, bold white clouds part and a shaft of light shines down on you. It is God’s love,” Dylan said, watching the body language of the group gathered around the table with their eyes closed. Generally, in that part of the session, he called the light “gentle energy” or a “positive glow”; but as far as he knew, everyone in this group was a believer, a Christian, and so he had changed the words to speak personally to this audience.

“God’s gentle light spills over your shoulders, warming and caressing you. Its glow enters your chest, illuminating your lungs and ribs, gently easing any tension around your heart.”

As he spoke, his gaze paused on George, whose gray pallor and trembling hands were warning signs. The man was in crisis. As soon as the session ended, Dylan was going to make a date to visit George at home, hoping to enlist his wife’s help in getting George into treatment. If the man didn’t want to be treated by Dylan, they could work together to find another therapist who would take the case without charging. One way or another, Dylan was going to push George Dornbecker to get help.

The other unknown in the group was Haley. Was she a Christian? Dylan wasn’t sure, but so far she had not objected to his reference to God in the guided imagery. Ordinarily, as a therapist, he would ask her about her religious orientation. However, Dylan didn’t want to think of himself as her therapist.

That would preclude him from any personal involvement with her, and he wanted to be involved with her. In some ways, he already was. When he and Haley went to see James at the rehab center, when they shared a sandwich at the hospital or worked together with a patient, things clicked.

To be honest with himself, he was still working on his own issues, but he had spent years trying to lay his own ghosts to rest, and maybe it was time to man up and move on. That’s what Patrick had told him in his last few sessions, and his therapist was an intuitive guy.

And since Dylan had met Haley, he really wanted to move on. For the first time since he’d lost Kris, he had found another person who brought magic into his life. Haley could light up a room with a pop of brilliant color and honesty. He liked the way she put her personal stuff aside when someone else needed her. She was a helper. He appreciated the obstacles she had overcome to get into the nursing program. He loved the sound of her laugh, and sometimes he hated the fact that they worked together. If they were just friends, he could act on his impulse and kiss her. But as long as they were working together … that kind of relationship would be complicated.

When she had asked him about Valentine’s Day, he had wanted to laugh out loud. He’d thought of her that morning, when he’d noted the date. He’d even been tempted to send her flowers or candy … but he would have had to do it in secret, since they weren’t a couple. And that had led him to ponder the ethics of having her in this group session. If he wanted to be her boyfriend, he could not be her therapist.

That was a mess he would have to sort out later.

Right now he pushed his thoughts away so that he could give his all to guiding the group through the healing exercise. Long ago he had memorized the cues for the exercise so they could spill from his tongue, but he believed it was better when he put his heart and soul into it. Although he tried to come across as warm and professional in leading this group, in truth he was nervous and deeply honored to have been chosen by God to lead them in this healing process. It was a painful blessing, as his mom used to say, because the thing that had brought them here was terrible and tragic.

Still, accepting that bad things happened to good people, he was grateful to be an agent of God’s peace. A healer.