Summary

In Chapter 1, an unnamed woman is feeling anxious over her first appointment with a hypnotherapist. She feels comfortable with the hypnotherapist, Ellen O'Farrell, though, in the beachfront home she uses as her office. Ellen always offers chocolates and tissues to her clients as small comforts when they are in distress. Later, Ellen has dinner with a man named Patrick Scott, someone she has seen for a few weeks. Ellen thinks all is going well until he tells her that they need to talk. Normally, this phrase is the beginning of bad news, so Ellen braces herself. What Patrick reveals, however, is that his ex-girlfriend has stalked him everywhere he goes for the past three years and was even present at the restaurant tonight. Ellen is intrigued and relieved that Patrick is not breaking up with her. She invites him to her home, and...