Page 4 of The Amendment

“No, um, Ains—Annie is great. It’s me. The problem is, and always has been, me.”

She nodded, as if she had us all figured out. “Okay, I’d like to dig into why you feel that way. These things are very rarely one sided. But, before we do that, I’d like to hear from you, Annie. How do you feel when you hear Pete speak that way? Do you agree with him? Or do you think you both share the blame?”

I knew what she wanted me to say, but that wasn’t the truth. I wasn’t at fault or to blame. This was all Peter. Everything that had gone wrong in our lives could be traced back to Peter.

“Obviously, we’re both to blame, but this all started when he began sneaking around.”

“Do you have any idea why he might’ve felt the need to sneak around?”

“No,” I said firmly. “I honestly don’t. I’ve been here for him—”

“Talk to him,” she said, gesturing toward my husband. “Tell him what you’re telling me.I’ve been there for you—”

I turned toward him, feeling as if I were putting on a performance. “I’ve been there for you through everything. And yet, you still act like I’m the enemy.”

“How does that make you feel, Annie?” she asked from her side of the room.

“Alone,” I said, surprising myself with a completely honest answer. “Helpless. Like you don’t trust me.”

Peter’s eyes were zeroed in on mine, glassy and serious. “I do trust you—”

“Pete, how does that make you feel? To hear how your actions are affecting Annie?”

“Shitty,” he said. “Guilty.” Then, his eyes widened only slightly, as if he’d realized something. “Alone.”

From across the room, Joanna sat back in her chair with a weighty breath. “And there, you see, you’re both working from a similar place. The fear of being alone is driving you to do things that’s only pushing your partner away. Instead of working together, you’re trying to protect yourselves and each other, to the detriment of your marriage.”

Our trance seemed to break, both of us blinking and turning to meet her eyes. “Do you think you can help us?” Peter asked anxiously, then gave a dry laugh. “I mean, are we a lost cause?”

“I can only help you as much as you want to be helped.But, if you’re willing to put in the work, to be completely honest with me, and with each other, I think there’s no limit to what we can do in this room. It all depends on you.”

I felt a smile growing on my lips as Peter’s hand slipped into mine.

“We’ll do whatever it takes,” I vowed, my heart thudding in my chest.

She smiled back at us, believing our every word.

Thirty minutes later, we made our way back to the car and slid in without a word. Peter held a paper with ourhomework—tell our partner how their actions make us feel at least once a day and tell our partner something we appreciate about them once a day—on it.

I glanced over at him, watching his expression grow dark.

Haunted.

Excited.

“So,” he said, obviously fighting against the joy he felt, “are we going to kill her?”

CHAPTER TWO

PETER

TWO MONTHS EARLIER

Istared at my wife across the kitchen table, the note I’d found in my bag lying between us.

It felt right somehow, that this was where it would end for us. Since this was where it had all begun just months before. When we’d agreed to the arrangement.

When I had no idea what I was agreeing to.

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