“Did your hair turn red when the accident happened?”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.”

“I think I’m being dead serious. You’re not one of those people who believe red-headed people have bad tempers are you?”

“Well, some of us do.”

“You and Anne of Green Gables.”

I was going to ask him if that was a random guess, but I realized it probably wasn’t. He almost instantly confirmed it.

“When I was told in our conference that you’d been assigned the book, I decided I should read it,” he explained.

“You’ve never read it before?”

“I’m more of an adventure, mystery, true crime, and biography reader.”

“And?” I asked.

“I’m almost finished. I’ve enjoyed it.”

“And what do you think about Anne … as a psychologist?”

“She makes an interesting case study. She never seems to give up, no matter what happens to her.”

“But shouldn’t she want to give up?”

“She’s a survivor,” he said. “Okay, more than that. She’s a thriver. She keeps hoping for better things. She’s lost so much —”

“Three different times,” I said, interrupting him.

He nodded. “Yes, three different times, but somehow she’s still willing to risk being hurt again to try to be part of a family again.” He paused. It was a long pause. “That takes so much strength. More than almost anyone would have.”

I knew what he was saying, and it wasn’t about Anne.

“This is all very complicated. You’re more complicated. That’s why it will take time to better understand you,” he said.

“I’m only here a couple more weeks. At least I hope.”

“I hope that too. In the meantime, let’s keep working on this together. You, my favorite Thursday-at-two-o’clock patient and me, the brilliant, better-than-Dr. Orchard psychologist. Okay?”

I nodded my head. “Sure. It’s not like I have anyplace better to be.”

As soon as I said that I realized it was true. I didn’t have any better place to be. Not just here at the center but in the entire world. I had no place.

Eric Walters has published more than 120 novels and picture books. His novels have won more than one hundred awards, including 10 Forest of Reading awards and the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. Walters conceived of I Read Canadian Day and was named a Member of The Order of Canada.

Credit: Anita Walters.

Excerpted from Sam by Eric Walters. Copyright © 2025 (DCB, an imprint of Cormorant Books Inc.). Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Sam publishes on May 24.