If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Linda is a therapist stretched to her limits by her daughter’s eating disorder and the collapse of her home life. With her husband away, she bears mounting caregiving stress and navigates unstable relationships in a high-pressure environment. Her attempts to cope lead to blurred professional boundaries, setting up a tension-filled arc toward desperation and self-doubt.

James is the motel superintendent who becomes an unlikely source of comfort and chaos. He helps Linda score drugs online and offers emotional support to her daughter, though their relationship remains complicated and unstable. His presence adds a volatile layer to Linda’s attempts to stabilize her situation.

Caroline is a new mother in crisis who abandons her baby mid-session, illustrating the fragility of parenthood under stress. She later appears at Linda’s home, slaps Linda, and runs away after Linda refuses further help, revealing the volatility of care-seeking in this world.

The daughter suffers from an eating disorder severe enough to require a PEG feeding tube every night. Her condition drives much of the family’s stress and shapes Linda’s professional and personal choices throughout the story. The tensions around weight, care, and safety propel the plot forward.

Linda’s husband, largely absent and critical, is away on a two-month work trip. He returns at key moments, questions Linda’s choices, and ultimately sees the consequences of the couple’s fractured dynamic, including the truth about Linda’s handling of their child.

Linda’s colleague in the therapy field who ultimately declines to take her on as a patient after boundary-crossing episodes. He embodies the ethical limits and professional standards that Linda’s crisis threatens to override.

Diana is a snarky motel clerk who becomes a peripheral yet grounding presence in Linda’s new, tense surroundings. Her interactions offer a contrast to the intensity of Linda’s crisis and inject moments of blunt honesty.