“You might try for at least a little bit of enthusiasm,” he suggested with a smile.
She winced. She hated being this person, but she couldn’t seem to get out of it—and what’s more, she was a little afraid to. If she was intentionally crusty, she hypothesized, she could better accept how others would inevitably feel about her. Of course they didn’t like her. Look how crusty she was! “Sorry. I don’t have much enthusiasm... but I’ve got a little.”
“That’s all I ask. Have you ever had a sound bath?”
Lorna’s cup of tea halted midway to her mouth. “A what?”
“A sound bath.”
“I have no idea what that is.”
“It’s a different sort of meditation.”
“Oh boy,” she muttered.
“But we use singing bowls, gongs, et cetera to create a sound capable of releasing energies and allowing our minds to see deeper into ourselves. To see things maybe we haven’t seen before.”
That deeper-into-self business again. And why the plural? Was this a group project? Who was “we”?
“You may have seen the singing bowls around. Big white ones, small brass ones.”
Lorna had seen those bowls in the meditation room. She thought they were for making lunch for the masses.
“The sound and vibrations help with relaxation by affecting your brain waves.”
“That sounds...” She tried to think of an inoffensive word.
“Relaxing?”
“Bananas.”
Micah chuckled. He was completely unruffled by her. “It’s actually a fascinating area of study and practice.”
“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t sound even remotely real, singing bowls and brain waves. And anyway, I’m relaxed.”
“Right, yes, you’re fine, as you’ve said more than once,” he said. “But I’ve never had anyone say no to more relaxation. Are you telling me you are completely relaxed?”
“Well, no. Because now I have to do a sound bath.”
He laughed again, because apparently, he thought she was all jokes. She was not. The very thought of being subjected to a sound bath made her feel exposed. Like someone was going to jump out of the curtains and laugh at her. It sounded like a terrible prank. And what could she possibly see inside herself that she didn’t already know?
“You might enjoy it,” he suggested.
“Nope,” Lorna said firmly.
“I understand,” Micah said. “Change and opening yourself to new experiences and ideas can be hard, right?”
She hesitated. It was hard, and she didn’t like it, but where was her resolve to try? She’d promised herself she would. What was she so afraid of? She sighed. “Yes,” she mumbled.
“But that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“Trick question,” she said, pointing at him. “I’m here because I did something stupid. You know that.”
“I know what the referral said. But I’m interested in the precipitating event or events that got you to that point. I want to know how Lorna Lott became the woman I see before me. She is attractive, she’s fit, she’s smart... and avoidant. She is terrified of letting me see too much.”
Wow.How did he know that? She didn’t know about the attractive, fit, or smart part, but the terror? Somehow he’d figured out how to look inside her bomb shelter. Even she didn’t knowhow to do that. “Not true,” she argued. “I’m not avoidant, I’m safe. I just don’t think you need to see too much.”
“What does safe mean to you?”
