Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

Samson on his leash. I looked up at Ben, feeling a little nervous, yet anxious, for answers. He mirrored my expression and nodded reassuringly.

“It’s show time,” I murmured. My mother and Belín stayed in my office, along with Adam. Ben and I made our way to the receptionist area with Samson in tow.

As soon as I walked in with my dog, I heard squeals and squeaks of delight from the kids. Everyone was smiling broadly and clamoring to pet Samson. I positioned myself in between Samson and the kids and told them to get in groups of four and I would then call each group to come pet my dog. I also announced they had to finish their snack before they could pet him or else Samson would snatch it out of their hands. They obeyed and started getting into groups. I saw a few of them shove their entire snack into their mouth until their cheeks puffed out. I giggled at the sight but couldn’t have anyone choking, so I made another announcement stating they could throw away their snack if they were finished with it or if they were just too anxious to pet Samson. I called the first group of kids who all rushed over to where I was standing. A line began to form behind them.

“Dr. Isabel, what made you bring your dog today?” one of the girls asked.

“Well, a few reasons actually,” I began. “I haven’t had a chance to be with him this past week because of work so he was starting to get lonely. Also, I thought it might be a nice treat for everyone tonight. Do you like him?” She nodded emphatically. “Do you think this was a good idea?” Everyone that could hear me yelled “Yeah!”

Kids were still arriving, all older teenagers, it looked like. I didn’t see any parents with a lot of them. I glanced at Ben and he was standing to the side, trying not to get in the kids’ way of petting the dog. I clapped my hands in a rhythmic-like manner and the kiddos that came every week knew to mirror my clapping. It was my way of getting everyone’s attention. They all looked up at me, giving me their attention.

“Can everyone please find a seat? Even if it’s on the floor,” I said in a raised voice. “We need to make some introductions before we go into a room and begin.”

Patti surfaced from her conversation with the mother and stood next to me. I whispered in her ear, asking her if everything was okay. She nodded.

Everyone’s eyes were on me. “Hi everyone! For those of you that are new, my name is Dr. Isabel Langley and to my left is Dr. Patti Peaches,” Patti waved at the kids. “But I want everyone to call us Dr. Isabel or Dr. Patti, that way it’s not so formal and we can feel a little more relaxed.” Samson was walking through the crowd of girls, loving the attention. We heard lots of giggling. I was starting to lose their attention so I called Samson to me and sent him to my office. My mother helped and came out to get him. I looked over at Ben and inclined my head toward my direction, indicating he should come here. He strode over to us and I smiled broadly at him with my eyebrows raised, trying to let him know he need not look so intimidating. “And this is Dr. Ben Davis. Dr. Davis also happens to be an FBI agent. He’s going to be with us tonight.”

“Wow!” a small voice from the back exclaimed. “That sounds like a lot of school.”

I could hear Ben laughing. I scanned the back to see who said that. “Andrea? Is that you, Angel?”

“Yes, Dr. Isabel.”

“I thought so. Still a little spitfire, I see, sweet girl—never change,” I said with a giggle. “I’m sure Dr. Davis or Special Agent Davis will be happy to answer any questions later tonight.” Ben nodded, smiling broadly and waved hello. “We also have our boss with us tonight. Some of you may know her since she’s always here, hard at work and very dedicated to her career. I know she’s talked with a few of you and/or your parents.”

“Hey Dr. Pam!” yelled another high, angelic voice from the back. Pam just waved in her direction, smiling, blowing her a kiss.

“So, before we get started, we need to do a quick head count to see how many are here tonight so we know which therapy room will hold us.” And as I said that, I saw at least seven more teenage girls walk in, three of them with their parents; one of them was Alex with her mother and Agent Stems. My eyes got wide and I smiled, waving at all of them. Something major was definitely up. “Welcome, I’m so glad to see all of you,” I hollered. “Come in, grab some water and a snack. You made it just in time,” I said. “We’re just doing a quick head count to see how many kids are here tonight.” I turned to Patti and asked her to start counting. My eyes flickered to Ben and his expression was unreadable. He was doing his own counting. Pam looked stunned and retreated back to her office to talk to Conny.

I began to count kids right behind Patti. Once done we compared notes to see if we both counted the same number but this time, we had a third set of eyes with Ben. That would be a plus with so many kids and parents. Patti finished counting first, then Ben, then me.

“I counted forty-seven,” said Patti.

“I got forty-seven too,” Ben offered.

“Same here, and that’s not counting the parents that came tonight,” I said.

“Isabel, this is the most we’ve ever had…ever!” Patti exclaimed. “What’s going on? Counting us it’ll be fifty people