Page 3 of Fierce-Zander

NO ONE WAS PERFECT

Eighteen Years Later

“How long dowe have to talk?” Katelyn asked Dr. Regan Philes. Her patient looked nervous and was twisting her hands together in her lap.

“You scheduled a thirty-minute session with me,” Regan reminded Katelyn. “At your last session with Zachery, you both agreed it’d be a good idea for you to talk to me alone. Do you not want to do that?”

She’d been seeing Katelyn and Zachery for a month now. Four sessions and Zachery did the bulk of the talking and Katelyn only nodded her head.

Regan had been the one to offer a one-on-one session to see if she could figure out what Katelyn wanted without feeling the pressure from her husband.

“I do,” Katelyn said. “But it feels like whatever I say doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me,” she said. “This is your time. You’re free to say what you want.”

“You won’t tell Zachery?” Katelyn asked.

“Not if you don’t want me to. You’ve been coming to therapy for a month. I know Zachery wants to work it out. But I’m not sure what you want.”

People could try all they wanted, but if a couple wasn’t on the same page, they weren’t going to get the end results anyone was looking for.

To this day, she still has no idea why her parents never once tried to work out whatever differences they had.

Heck, she didn’t think therewereany differences.

They didn’t talk about what was bothering them. They just made a decision, agreed it was for the best, and threw away over twenty years together—and messed up their son in the process.

Kellen was better now, but boy, her brother struggled for years, getting into trouble with drugs and alcohol. Wanting attention and hoping it’d bring their parents back together.

It didn’t and they were both remarried now and she had to listen again to how perfectly happy her parents both seemed to be.

She wouldn’t fall for that crap again.

Never.

No one was perfect.

No one was ever happy all the time.

And everyone got mad at their significant other at some point.

Life just wasn’t that tidy and it was her mission to help people open their mouths and let their voices be heard. If for no other reason than to feel better and let all that toxic crap go that was bottled up.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” Katelyn said.

“Do what?” she asked.

She wanted to be clear. Her computer was recording like it always was and she’d type her notes up later. She kept those recordings in a cloud and would go back and listen to them againat some point if she had to, but she liked to review them before her notes were compiled and this allowed her to talk freely without the distractions of paper or typing.

“My marriage,” Katelyn said. “I don’t feel as if I have any say in anything. It’s so hard.”

“Have you told Zachery that?” she asked.

“That I don’t want to be married anymore?” Katelyn asked.

“Yes. And that you don’t feel as if you are being heard.”

“Both,” Katelyn said. “But he talks around me and the next thing I know, I’m agreeing.”

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