Girl Get Rid Of That Jerk by Melissa Johns

Chapter 201

Ann sighed and rubbed her temples. "Acting like that is only going to push her further away. Nobody's drawn to extremes."

"Yeah," Shawn replied, letting his sleeve fall back down, his face giving nothing away. "She told me not to pull any more stunts like that. Doc, doesn't that mean she still cares, even a little?"

Ann didn't take the bait. Instead, she gently nudged the conversation in a new direction, guiding Shawn's thoughts elsewhere with patience and care, as she provided him with counseling.

The session went on for about four hours. By the end of it, Ann offered her heartfelt advice. She suggested Shawn start to slowly detach from the relationship and the person who was consuming his every thought.

She advised him to shift his focus, to stop centering his life around Allison.

Shawn seemed to be listening, nodding as though he understood when he left. But in truth, he hadn't absorbed a thing. He just couldn't imagine a life without Allison.

As night settled in, Shawn tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He was still living in the apartment next to where Allison once did, though she had moved out.

The night was eerily quiet. Shawn lay there in the dark, the room swallowed by shadows. He closed his eyes, and Allison's face kept replaying in his mind.

barged into his thoughts. Joshua flashed a smug smile, tenderly holding

shouted suddenly. "Get your hands off her!

madman. He tormented himself with visions of Joshua and

muffled cries filling the room. A man over six feet

peckish when the doorbell rang. She quickly ran a hand through her hair, threw on a cozy coat, and shuffled to the door

the cook Mr.

kindly woman in her late forties, dressed warmly in a black wool coat. Allison paused. "Hold on a sec,

let a stranger in without

Mr. Fisher.

Joshua. "Did you

can't come by anymore, but her daughter-in-law's got all her recipes down. Thought you'd

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thoughtfulness. She remembered Paige well, the Hartley family's former housekeeper. Her mom, Savannah, had learned to cook from Paige,