Jane and Paul Anderson's marriage was in trouble. They had been married for seven years and had stopped communicating with each other. Neither knew how the other felt because they never spoke intimately any more.
Paul had ridiculous visions of Jane sleeping with someone else. Jane thought Paul might be screwing his secretary because he had been working longer hours than usual.
Paul, being a man, didn't speak to anyone about his worries. Jane, being a woman, talked to her sister and her closest girlfriends regularly. During one such conversation, Jane's friend Tina suggested a marriage counsellor. Tina's sister had been to see him and was really happy now.
Jane was worried about Paul's reaction to this so she decided to be blunt. When he got home from work she said the words every man dreads, "Paul, we need to talk."
While he dreaded it, Paul also knew that they did indeed need to talk. Jane began, "Paul I love you but I don't really like you at the moment. Our marriage is shit and you don't talk to me anymore. I think we need to seek professional advice."
He looked at her and said, "What did you have in mind?"
"Tina has recommended a counsellor who deals with troubled marriages. Her sister went to see him and she's never been happier."
Paul hated the thought of airing their dirty linen in front of a stranger but he really did love his wife so he said, "OK. If you think that's what we need then I'll go. I hate that we don't talk anymore but I don't know how to change that. Maybe this will help."
Jane stood and hugged him. "I'll make an appointment for as soon as possible."
Jane was a petite blonde with long wavy hair. She stood about 5'2" and was thin, bordering on too thin. She had 32 C breasts and because she was so thin, they looked much larger. She had stunning blue eyes and a delightful smile that lit up her whole face. She enjoyed yoga and Pilates and liked to jog to keep herself in shape.
Paul was almost a full foot taller, standing 6'1." He was a large man and had to fight to keep his weight under control. Lately he looked as if he had given up the fight. His stomach protruded over his pants so much he couldn't see his feet without bending over. He was a bit of a slob too and didn't really care much about his shape.
Three days later Jane and Paul found themselves sitting in the office of Psychologist David Jamieson. It was a room at the back of his large Edwardian style home.
He refused to call himself 'Doctor' because that implied that he had either a medical degree or a Doctorate. He had neither. That somehow encouraged Paul. It meant that he wasn't so full of himself that he wanted external recognition.
Jane was quite taken by him. He was about the same age as she and her husband, early thirties. He was the archetype tall, dark and handsome. She quite simply had her breath taken away. David seemed to like what he saw in Jane too.
He began by asking Jane why she was there. "Well, ..."
"Call me David, please."
"Well, David, for the last year or so we have hardly spoken to each other. It's as if we are cohabiting in the same house. The only thing that suggests anything more than that is the fact that we sleep in the same bed. And that's all we do there, sleep."
"How long since you made love," David asked?
"I can't remember," Jane replied.
"Paul?"
"No idea," said Paul.
"Go on, Jane."
"I'm at my wits end. Paul has been working longer hours recently. I think he prefers to be at work than to be at home. Initially, I tried to encourage him home at a reasonable hour but for a while now I've just found it all too hard. It frustrates me but I've been wondering if it's all worth it. I tried but it seemed there was nothing from him."
"Thanks, Jane," David said. "It's important that you are honest and I can see by the look on your face that this is really how you feel. Now. Paul, what about you?"
"I don't know hat to say. I think I'm a pretty normal guy. I know talking isn't my strong point but I've got a good job and make a good wage. I've just been promoted at work so that's why I'm there longer. But when I said to Jane that I would need to be at work later for a while I got no response. So I didn't bother telling her about the promotion. She didn't seem interested in what I was saying so I stopped saying anything. Our bedroom is like Antarctica. Nothing but sleep. Jane has taken to getting dressed in the bathroom. I dunno why. I used to enjoy watching her but now I don't even get that pleasure. She seems to be going out of her way to shut me out. I don't like it but what can I do? If that's what she wants then..."
"Thank you Paul for your honesty too. There seems to be a lot of issues here but there's quite a bit you can change, Paul, to make things better. Because this is your first visit we won't go too deeply into it now but I'd like to see you by yourselves for the next little while but I'd encourage you to talk about today when you get home. Now, Jane, I've got a spare hour at the end of the day tomorrow for you, how does that sound?"
"I'll be here," Jane replied.
"And Paul, I can fit you in this time next week. Are you OK with that?"
"Yep. I can do that."
"Good, that's it then for today. Thanks both of you. I know how hard it can be to take this first step but I feel some positives around the two of you and I'm confident we can get a good result."
Jane and Paul went home with slightly different feelings. Jane was thrilled to be going to see David by herself. She felt that she made a connection with him in the short time she was there. She felt that he really listened to her. He didn't take his eyes off her while she was talking. It didn't hurt that he was gorgeous. He was about 6'2" with broad shoulders, a narrow waist and cute bum. His blond hair was wavy. He looked like a surfer. He also looked a little younger. It was going to be nice to spend some time alone with him.
Paul, on the other hand, took an immediate dislike to him. He felt that David was transfixed by his wife and didn't really care about what he had to say. He also thought that this was couples therapy, not singles. He saw how David looked at his wife and thought it was like a wolf looking at a helpless rabbit. He didn't like it, not at all.
He also knew that if he said anything to Jane that she would just make some sort of excuse about it, that he was imagining things and that he was reading too much into it.
When they got home Jane was really enthusiastic about the therapy. "I can't believe how comfortable I felt talking to David. He seemed to be really understanding of our situation. I think this is going to be really good, Paul."
"Yeah, sure," Paul replied. "I hope so."
Jane went on a bit about how wonderful she thought David was but Paul tuned out. He just went about his business by himself, "as usual," he thought, and let Jane babble on. About how wonderful therapy was.
She phoned Tina that night and spoke for about half an hour about how good David was and how much she was looking forward to tomorrow.
Finally they went to bed. Jane leaned over and gave Paul a big kiss goodnight. "Goodnight, darling. Sleep well."
"Yeah, goodnight, Jane."
The next day Jane was right on time for her appointment with the therapist. David ushered her into his office and shut the door behind her.
"Jane, let me begin by saying I know exactly what you are going through. I've seen it many times before. Husbands seem to take their wives for granted and expect everything to be rosy. They want sex when they feel like it but are not attentive to their wives needs."
"Oh, David, that's exactly how I feel. It's like I'm a piece of furniture but if I forget something for him or, God forbid, don't feel like sex, world war three breaks out."
