Carrie and Keith 19

Carrie looked over her appointments for the day. 10:00--Joey Ruffalo. She groaned to herself.

"Good morning, Mr. Ruffalo," she said when she went to pick him up from the waiting room.

"Carrie?" She could hear the shock in his voice.

"Yes, sir. Please follow me." She walked down the hall.

When they were in the room, Joey looked at her. "God damn, you're not sleeping or eating either?"

"I'm going behind the screen. Please disrobe and cover yourself with this sheet. Let me know when you're done." Carrie sighed as she seated herself on the stool behind the partition.

"Shit. It's my fault, Carrie. I'm sorry," she could hear him undressing as he spoke. "I didn't think he'd take me so seriously."

Carried sighed again

"No offence, but you look terrible." Joey said. "I'm ready."

"Are you having any pain or stiffness anywhere?" she asked.

"Nope."

"What did you mean, 'I'm not sleeping or eating either'?" she asked as she folded back the sheet to work on his shoulders.

"He's a male version of you. Losing weight, big dark circles under his eyes, pale. You might make a whole person between the two of you.

"Carrie, he wanted to apologize to you, but your housemate wouldn't let him in."

"I know. I told her to keep him away."

"You should go see him. You two need each other."

Carrie started to cry. She stepped away from Joey and covered her face with her hands. She heard him sit up.

"I'm sorry. Someday I'll learn to keep my mouth shut." he said.

"It's OK. I'm sorry for crying in front of you." She found some tissues and tried to take deep breaths while she cleaned up her face.

"Go see him. If nothing else, you can tell him what an asshole he is."

Carrie laughed a little. "Maybe I should."