The words were mean and utterly untrue, but Lila was trying to shove Noelle into a corner where she’d fight for herself. Fighting for herself might lead her to break out of the cycle she was in. If Lila had to be the bad guy for a while, she was willing to do that. Sometimes the patient needed someone to fight, some villain to overcome and prove something to.

“It is damn fucking hard.”

Unfortunately, that hadn’t come out of Noelle’s mouth. She looked over and Armie was standing there, his eyes cold as ice. He wasn’t in uniform today. He wore slacks and a dress shirt and loafers. He looked like he’d just come out of a business meeting, which according to what he’d told her this morning, he likely had. And he looked angry.

She had a lot of explaining to do. She knew she would have to eventually, but she hadn’t expected he would walk in at the worst possible time. They needed to show a united front or Noelle would use it as another way to stay in the box she’d put herself in. “Let’s talk in the office. Noelle, this isn’t finished.”

Noelle started crying in earnest, her big eyes shimmering and her face going red. “Daddy, I want to go home.”

“Noelle, I need to talk to Lila alone for a moment. Why don’t you go and get your things and wait for me in the lobby,” Armie said in a tone that brooked no disobedience. The sheriff was in the house.

Noelle looked up at her, but there was no triumph in her eyes. She was crying. “I’m sorry I wasn’t what you needed me to be.”

Lila groaned and started to lean over.

Armie stepped between them. “Don’t you say another word to her.”

Noelle made her way to the hall.

“What is that supposed to mean?” It was very obvious he’d misunderstood what was going on. This was sometimes how therapy went, and it was absolutely how parental figures and teens went at times.

“It means I can’t believe you talked to her that way.”

“I know I was harsh, but we’re on a deadline, Armie, and gentle prodding isn’t working,” she explained. “There’s something going on with her and she won’t talk about it. Something is holding her back, and I need to get her to acknowledge it so we can get her on her feet before she loses this window.”

“That window closed the day she lost use of her legs,” he insisted. “I am not going to have you make things harder on her.”