Shawn and his mother Jennifer sat fiddling with their phones. Shawn was scrolling through Facebook, and Jennifer was texting her sister. They were sitting in the living/waiting room of therapist Deborah Peters for their usual Wednesday appointment. They had started seeing Deborah during Jennifer's divorce from her now ex-husband five years earlier. Shawn was thirteen when his parents' marriage started falling apart. Once he realized what was going on it affected him more than he was willing to admit. When they divorced a year later he retreated into himself, barely spoke and often locked himself in his room for hours at a time drowning out the outside world with loud music or video games. Deborah came highly recommended, and she was able to help both Shawn and Jennifer, during and especially after the divorce was final.
Shawn had retreated so far into himself it amazed Jennifer that Deborah was able to bring her now 19 year old son back from the depression he had fallen into. Shawn had come back out of his shell and he and his mother had gotten closer in the years since the divorce. There were still some things he didn't feel comfortable telling her, and that's where Deborah came in.
Jennifer was also amazed that Deborah was able to make her feel better about all the shit she had gone through with her ex-husband. The first eleven and a half years of their marriage had been great, but somewhere along the line they grew apart and in the last couple of years they were barely speaking to each other and were sleeping in separate rooms. After 15 years of marriage, they filed for divorce. Jenny was able to get out a lot of her frustration talking to Deborah.
The door to Deborah's office opened and she stepped out. Shawn and Jennifer looked up.
"Sorry for the wait," she said, "I had a patient on the phone. So, who's first today?"
"Go ahead, honey." Jennifer said, patting her son on the leg. "Your Aunt and I are texting, and you know how she is when she gets going."
Shawn rolled his eyes, "Yeah, once Aunt Patty gets started it's hard to get her to stop."
Deborah ushered Shawn into her office. It used to be a study, but since she decided to work out of her home instead of leasing office space, she transformed it into her office. Shawn liked Deborah, aside from the fact that he could tell her things he couldn't tell his mother, there was also the fact that she was stunning. She may have been 28 years older than him, but she had the body of a woman at least ten to fifteen years younger. Standing at 5' 8", she had a trim athletic build, an impressive 40DD chest (which she tried with varying levels of success to hide with baggy or loose fitting tops), and killer legs. Shawn had never been into older women, especially women that were old enough to be his mother, but Deborah was the exception.
He plopped down on the couch as Deborah sat down in her easy chair.
"So, what's going on Shawn?"
"Not much... actually that's bullshit." he said, "Deb, you don't tell my mother what happens in our sessions, right?"
Deborah didn't mind that her patients referred to her by Deborah, Debbie or Deb. She wanted them to feel like they were talking to a friend, not a therapist. She wanted them to speak their minds, so she didn't mind if they swore, yelled, cried, or just generally vented. It was also part of the reason she worked out of her home. She figured people would be more comfortable in her home instead of a cold, impersonal office.
"Of course not," Deborah said, "What you say stays between us, it's that whole doctor/patient confidentiality rule. I can't tell you mother anything unless I think it's illegal, or you're a danger to yourself or others. You know you can tell me anything."
"Something happened a couple of weeks ago, and mom doesn't know... at least I don't think she does." Shawn said, looking down at the floor.
"Shawn, what is it?"
"I saw my mother naked." he finally said.
"And you're not sure if she knows?" Deborah asked.
He nodded, "I came home from my friend's house, and as I went upstairs to my room I passed by mom's room. She'd just gotten out of the shower, and she didn't have the bedroom door closed all the way. As I passed by, I glanced in just as she took her towel off to dry herself, and I could see everything, well most everything. She was standing in front of the window and the light was shining just right, so I could only see her in profile. But it was enough. I could see all her curves, and..."
"It excited you."
Shawn nodded, "Yeah, it did. I mean, I've seen naked women before, but this was my mother. She probably didn't close the door all the way because she was home alone and didn't think I'd be home anytime soon."
"Go on," Deborah said, "What happened next?"
Shawn kicked off his sneakers and put his feet up on the couch. Deborah didn't mind, she encouraged her patients to get comfortable while they were talking to her. Some people would actually lay down, some would stretch out like Shawn was, some curled their feet up under them. Whatever made them feel comfortable.
"She turned and went back to the bathroom and I snuck back downstairs and made a show out of making noise and letting her know I was home. I heard her bedroom door close after that." Shawn said, "I kept replaying that moment over and over in my head."
"And how do you feel about that?" Deborah asked.
"A little guilty. Like I said, mom thought she was alone, and certainly wasn't expecting me to be peeping in on her. And she's my mother." He finally looked up. "I shouldn't be perving on my mother like that, right?"
"Well, it's not like you planned it, right?" Deborah said, "It was an accident. You had no idea she'd be coming out of the shower at that exact moment."
"Well at least not that time." Shawn said.
"Meaning?"
"I tried to see her again, and I did, a few times." Shawn said, "I went out of my way to listen for her in the shower. I was determined to see her naked again. Part of me knew it was wrong, but part of me wanted to see her again, the part of me that wanted to see her won out."
He sighed, and looked up at Deborah, she wasn't judging him, he could tell that just by looking at her. She was patiently waiting for him to tell her the rest of the story.
"First time was last Saturday." he finally said, "I usually sleep in, but I had to pee, so I got up and went to the bathroom, and that's when I heard the shower in mom's bathroom running."
