This is the first story I have written since a creative writing course in grad school over thirty years ago. This story is meant to shake off the mental cobwebs and to discipline myself to actually start and finish a story rather than write half a story and never get back to it. This story does not advance the genre or break new ground; it's a writing exercise so I can try to finish some of the longer, more creative stories that are percolating in the back of my mind.
I also appreciate any feedback. I will never turn off voting or comments for anything I write nor will I delete any comments. I am amazed that some authors on this site are so thin-skinned that they have to cull through their comments and weed out any that don't praise them for being the second coming of Faulkner. As anyone in the arts knows, if you are going to believe the good reviews, you have to believe the bad reviews. Anyway, end of rant.
Marriage Counseling
"So, Traci...do you mind if I call you Traci?" Dr. Karen asked and then without waiting for an answer continued her question. "So, Traci, what is it that you are hoping to get out of these sessions?"
Based on her initial video consultation she knew generally what the issues were in the Briley's marriage but she wanted Traci to articulate what her goals and objectives were. Making sure that all parties were on the same page was a necessary first step in marriage counseling.
This was her first session with the Briley's; Traci and Jack. Although she had spoken with Traci on a Zoom call, this was her first time seeing Traci's husband. Jack Briley stood a couple of inches over six-feet and was lean, with the body of a runner rather than someone who spent hours in the gym bulking up. Clean shaven with thick blond hair worn a little long on his collar.
Traci Briley was shorter at maybe five-five or -six and Karen guessed her weight to be in the one-hundred-twenty-five-pound range. She too, had blonde hair which today was being worn in a pony-tail that ended between her shoulder blades. Medium sized breasts and fantastic legs that were shown off by the black pencil skirt and heels that. The tanned legs were the legs of an athlete. Muscular calves that her four-inch heels showed off to nice effect.
"Since I went back to work six months ago, my husband has become controlling and emotionally abusive. He is constantly trying to violate my right to privacy. I took off work for a few years to be a stay-at-home mom, and now that our girls are in school, I started working again. Jack has become insanely jealous and his controlling and manipulative behavior has gotten out of hand. My goal in marriage counseling is to assure Jack that he has nothing to worry about and that his controlling behavior needs to end."
Karen watched Jack's face as his wife described the problem from her point of view. His face was expressionless and almost detached as his wife spoke. Karen could very easily see him being a controlling asshole.
"Thank you, Traci. Jack, let's build on what Traci said. Tell me, what do you see as the problem in your marriage?"
Jack Briley locked eyes with Karen and then turned his eyes to watch his wife. He then spoke with a flat, unemotional tone, "My wife is having an emotional affair with her supervisor. I want her to quit her job and never have contact with him again."
Traci rolled her eyes in disgust. "You see what I'm talking about? I get this same nonsense day in and day out and I. Am. Sick. Of. It." Traci spat out the last part in a mix of anger and frustration.
Karen swiveled towards Jack, "That's a very inflammatory accusation, Jack. I do have a couple of questions for you; why do you consider her relationship with her supervisor to be an affair and what evidence do you have?"
Jack sat back in his chair and looked at first Traci and then the marriage counselor. "I'll answer, but first I have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind. Traci chose you and met with you, but I never got a chance to speak with you."
Karen gave him an appraising look. "You can ask me a couple of questions. If I think they are inappropriate I will simply refuse to answer them."
"Fair enough." Jack again locked eyes with Karen. "Are you married?"
"No, I am not married," Karen replied.
"Have you ever been married?"
Karen was generally uncomfortable speaking about her personal life, but she also knew that the hallmark of a good counselor was the ability to be open and vulnerable with clients. To an extent.
"Yes, I have been married, however I've been divorced for several years now." Karen was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with this line of questioning.
"Why did you get divorced?"
Okay, now the questions were completely inappropriate, Karen thought to herself. Before Karen could respond, Jack asked a follow-up question.
"Was there infidelity involved?"
"My marriage is not relevant to your marriage. Your marriage and my marriage are in no way alike and the breakdown of my marriage is not something we will be discussing further." Karen could tell she was coming off as angry and not compassionate. She had to get a handle on her emotions. Why did Jack Briley have to go to that sore spot?
"I'm going to take that as yes," Jack replied.
"Yes, there was infidelity involved," Karen said, her lips compressed into a pale, thin, hard line.
"Thank you for your honesty," Jack replied. "The reason I say that this is an emotional affair is because not only do they see each other all day at work, but they're constantly texting each other at night and on the weekend. Every time we're out, she spends most of her time on her phone with her boss. She refuses to show me her texts and turns her phone away from me so that I cannot see what she is doing. She sleeps with her phone under her pillow and takes it into the bathroom with her. We haven't had sex in three months and if she is not sleeping with her boss now, I know she'll be in bed with him soon."
Karen looked appraisingly at Traci. This was a much different spin on the story than what Traci had related to her over Zoom. "Traci, is Jack accurate is what he is saying?"
Traci again had an angry, disgusted look on her face. "No! I text with a lot of people. I have family and friends that I trade messages with. He is just being sad and pathetic. He wants to control me and not let me have any friends."
"Jack, do you have any evidence to support what you are accusing Traci of?
Jack reached into the backpack that he had placed on the floor as he had taken his seat at the beginning of the session. He extracted several pages and handed them to Karen.
"What am I looking at?" Karen asked.
"That's our phone bill from four months ago. If you look at page four, that's where Traci's cell phone details begin. It ends on page five. You can count them if you want, but she has a little over three hundred total texts that month. Mostly to me, her sisters and her mom."
"What are you doing Jack? You're proving my point for me" Traci said. She had sat silently so far, but Jack was really starting to piss her off with this BS.
Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out another document; this one noticeably thicker. "This is our last month's phone bill." Jack handed the pages to Karen. "Traci's cell phone detail begins on page four, just like the other one. Tell me what page it ends on?"
Karen thumbed through the pages and looked up in surprise, "Page twelve. There are seven more pages of texts on this bill than the other bill you showed me."
"Correct," Jack said. "Now look at the phone numbers."
