Chapter 16
I rush into the waiting room. “Sorry I’m late,” I say, still catching my breath.
Aiden stands from the armchair the moment he sees me. “I thought you changed your mind.” His voice is quiet, not accusing. Just honest.
Before I can answer, the door beside us opens. A woman steps out, mid-forties maybe, with a clipboard pressed to her chest and a calm, unreadable face.
“Kate? Aiden?”
We both nod.
She smiles faintly. “Come on in.”
Turning I don’t wait for him to lead, just walk through the door. He follows.
This room is familiar to Dr Brett’s, even the couch feels familiar, though this one is covered in light green fabric instead of brown.
Aiden and I sit with a space between us.
Not far enough to seem distant, not close enough to feel connected.
Just enough that we each have room to fold our hands and look straight ahead.
The woman with the clipboard takes the chair across from us. She is wearing a plain grey blazer and no makeup. Her expression is calm but not soft.
"Hi. I’m Dr. Claudia," she says, setting the notepad on her knee. Her voice is steady. "I see that you both completed your individual sessions."
We both nod.
"Now I’m going to ask you a few questions," she continues. "One of you will answer while the other listens. No interruptions. Then we’ll switch." She looks at me. "Kate, I’d like you to go first. Aiden, you’ll listen. Then you’ll respond and Kate will listen."
My stomach tightens. I don’t look at him. I press my hands together and wait.
Dr. Claudia looks at me and says, “First one’s easy. How long have you been together?”
I glance at Aiden. “We got together when we were sixteen. Aiden asked me out when I joined his school.”
Aiden nods. “High school sweethearts.”
She gives another small nod. “What drew you to each other originally?”
I take a breath. “Aiden was this really smart, sweet, and hot guy who was friends with every one. I never thought he’d be funny too, but he was. The more time we spent together, the harder I fell. He was kind in a way most teenage boys weren’t.”
Aiden shifts beside me. “I saw her day in, day out, ignoring all the noise around her. This hot-as-hell girl who didn’t care about the attention. I started talking to her fully expecting to get blown off, but she actually talked back. The more we talked, the more I knew I wanted forever with her.”
Dr. Claudia’s pen moves across the notepad. “What was your relationship like before the infidelity was revealed?”
I keep my eyes on the corner of the rug. “I thought it was good. I mean, we had problems, but I thought we were making it work.”
Aiden adds quietly, “I didn’t realize we had problems.”
Dr. Claudia turns back to me. “Kate, can you tell us about those problems? Start with the biggest.”
I swallow. “I didn’t like how instead of coming home; he’d go to the gym or hang out with his friends. He’d always find a reason not to be there.”
Aiden shifts again, his mouth opening like he’s about to speak, but Dr. Claudia raises a hand.
Aiden,” she says gently but firmly, “this is Kate’s time to speak. You’ll have your turn.”
He leans back slowly, biting down on whatever words were coming out. I keep going.
“I’d go to work and then come straight home. Sometimes I carved out time to see Quinn, the one friend I have left, but otherwise my life was the boys and our marriage. But it didn’t feel like it was his. It felt like it was just an afterthought.”
Dr. Claudia turns to Aiden and gives a small nod, inviting him to speak.
“You were not an afterthought,” he starts, voice steady but low.
“I’d go to the gym or hang out with friends because when I came home…
I felt like a stranger. You had all these rituals with the boys.
You knew what they wanted without them even asking.
I’d just stand there. You had inside jokes with them, you knew their triggers.
I felt like every time I opened my mouth I was stepping on a landmine. ”
Dr. Claudia looks at me, gently prompting a response.
I blink hard. “That’s bullshit.”
Aiden looks taken aback, his jaw tightening.
“Of course, I knew what they wanted. I was there. I was the one packing lunches and staying up with them when they were sick. You think I wasn’t on the receiving end of tantrums and slammed doors? The difference is, I stayed. I didn’t run. I didn’t disappear when it got too much.”
He does not say anything right away. He sits there, face tight, eyes on the floor. Then he lifts his head and speaks again, more slowly this time.
“I wasn’t talking about stepping on landmines with the boys.
I was talking about them with you. It felt like nothing I did was ever good enough for you.
You would talk over me or just take over completely.
That’s why I started planning those boys’ trips.
Not because I wanted to go hunting or fishing, but because you were so possessive of them that I couldn’t find space to be their dad. ”
My voice cracks. “So, I was so possessive that you had to take them away from me just to have a relationship with them?”
He reaches across to take my hand, but I pull away.
“I never said that. You weren’t trying to shut me out.
You didn’t even know you were doing it. Even when they were babies, I would get home and you wouldn’t let me change a single diaper.
You said I was doing it wrong. And I was, but only because I never got the chance to learn.
It felt like you were punishing me for missing Jack’s birth. ”
I go quiet. Jack’s birth has always been a sensitive topic.
Dr. Claudia’s voice breaks the silence. “Kate, can you tell us about Jack’s birth?”
I nod slowly. “When I went into labour with Jack, I called Aiden. I called him so many times. By the time I gave up and called my grandma, I was already in too much pain to think clearly. We rushed to the hospital. I gave birth in the emergency room. No time for anything. No epidural. No Aiden. Just the nurses and a doctor I had never met before.”
Aiden speaks, his voice barely more than a whisper. “You have no idea how sorry I was for missing it. You think I didn’t blame myself every day?”
Dr. Claudia nods once, then turns to him. “Aiden, can you tell us about the day your son was born?”
I expect the usual excuse. I expect him to brush it off again. But he doesn’t.
He leans forward, elbows on his knees, eyes fixed on the floor.
“Kate’s due date was right at the start of summer.
I begged my professors to let me take my exams early.
Most of them agreed. One didn’t. He was a nightmare.
He made me his errand boy. I was running copies, proctoring other students, grading assignments.
I was scared to push back because if he failed me, I’d have to repeat the whole term. ”
He pauses, presses a hand over his mouth, then continues.
“The day Kate went into labour; I had just turned off my phone to take that exam. It was one of those long, final ones. No breaks. No distractions. When I turned it back on and saw all the missed calls and messages, I didn’t even stop to think.
I borrowed my friend’s car and drove straight to the hospital. ”
He looks at me, searching for something. “By the time I got there,” he says softly, “Jack had already been born.”
Dr. Claudia turns toward me. “Kate, how did Aiden missing your labour affect your relationship?”
I do not look at him when I answer. My voice is quiet, but it carries.
“I had to do it alone,” I say. “My grandmother had stepped out to sign the paperwork to move me to maternity when Jack started crowning. I remember reaching for someone’s hand, anyone’s, but there was no one. Just the nurse, the pushing, the burning, and then… silence.”
I pause, breathing through the tightness in my chest.
“In that moment, it hit me how alone I really was. And when they placed Jack on my chest, I made a promise. That no matter what, he would never feel the way I had felt in that room.”
I finally look up, locking eyes with Aiden.
“So if I was possessive,” I say, slow and deliberate, “it was never about control. It was to protect my children.”
He flinches, but recovers. “Our children,” he says.
“That’s the thing,” I say, heat rising in my throat. “They become our children when it’s convenient for you. But I’m the one who does the hard work. I’m the one who stays up, who remembers the appointments, who shows up for the things nobody sees.”
Aiden shifts in his chair.
“I didn’t abandon my child and come back when it was easy,” I add, my voice tight.
His eyes flash. “I never abandoned my children.”
“I didn’t mean…” I trail of because I don’t know what I meant.
Dr. Claudia steps in gently but firmly. “Kate, you weren’t talking about Aiden just then. Who were you talking about?”
I hesitate. My throat catches before I say it out loud. “My parents.”
Aiden throws up his hands. “Not this again.”
Dr. Claudia’s tone sharpens. “Aiden, this is Kate’s time.”
I breathe in, deep and shaky. “When I was sixteen, my parents left me with my grandma and flew off to travel the world. They said it was temporary. A sabbatical. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But they stayed gone for years.”
“They came back,” Aiden says, his voice tight.
I lose control for a moment. “Well, they didn’t come back for me !
” The words echo in the room. I don’t apologize.
I just lower my voice and keep going. “They came back because they realized the only grandchildren they would ever have were growing up without them. They came back because it was convenient. And I’m supposed to what, just welcome them back like they didn’t leave?
Smile at birthday parties and send them holiday photos? ”
“They didn’t leave you at a fire station,” Aiden mutters. “They still called. They gave you a cushy life with an amazing grandma and a monthly allowance. That’s not abandonment.”
Dr. Claudia turns to him now, her voice calm but pointed. “Aiden, why are you so quick to dismiss Kate’s pain?”
He crosses his arms. “Because I was abandoned. My dad left when I was ten. He didn’t call, didn’t write, definitely didn’t send any money. I had to get a job just so I could buy things my mom didn’t think were essential, including taking you out. That’s abandonment.”
Dr. Claudia pauses. “And what do you believe it means to stay?”
Aiden straightens. “Working to keep a roof over your kids’ heads. Keeping them fed. Showing up even when it’s hard.”
She nods, then asks, “What about love? When your father left, did you feel loved?”
His jaw tightens. He looks away. “No.”
Dr. Claudia lets the silence stretch, then turns to me.
“Kate, when your parents left… did you feel loved?”
I whisper it. “No.”
There is no correcting. No explaining. Just that one, naked truth hanging in the air between us.