“Good afternoon,” Dr. Monica Williams greets us. Our new therapist is warm and black, just like Dr. Bernard, but that’s where the similarities end. Dr. Williams is already giving no-nonsense, which is probably exactly what we need.
We take our seats across from her desk. I look around, wondering where the couch is. That’s how it always goes on tv; a person comes in for therapy and lays down on the couch to get comfortable. These chairs we’re perched in are hard and rigid, which matches her, I guess.
“I see here you’ve been married for almost six months,” she says as she peers at her iPad. “Why don’t we start with what you’re hoping to get out of your sessions?”
“Is that a bad thing, that we’ve only been married six months?” I ask. “Does that mean something?”
She shakes her head. “Not necessarily.”
Okay, then.
Ace clears his throat. “What I’m hoping to get is for us to be able to trust each other.”
She’s writing. “Wonderful. Raya?”
I cross my legs in front of me. “I guess I want us to come out of here feeling comfortable with who we are as a couple. And as individuals.”
“I see.” More writing. “Why now? Is there any particular catalyst that made you seek counseling?”
Ace and I look at each other, then back at her.
“Not really,” he says. “I mean, we’ve been having some…disagreements, but it’s not any one thing.”
“I agree.”
Her eyes move from left to right across our faces. “How did you two meet?”
Ace chokes back a chuckle. “On my lunch break. I was with coworkers at a restaurant.”
Dr. Williams nods.
Ace looks over at me with his eyebrows up like he expects me to finish the story. I shoot him a look.
“There’s a little more to it,” I finally say. “I had seen him online—“
“You’dseenme?” he says with a grin.
“Okay, fine. I’d watched him online for a while.”
Dr. Williams frowns. “What do you mean?”
“It’s a long story. I don’t wanna bore you or take up too much time. We’re paying by the hour, right?”
“Yes.”
“Right, so anyway, long story short, I saw him, I liked him, and I made sure to put myself somewhere he could see me. And he approached me just like I knew he would.”
Ace nods.
“O..kay.” She writes again. “When would you say the trust issues started?”
“Immediately,” Ace answers.
“Immediately?”
He nods. “There were some inconsistencies in her story.”
“I mean, you can say it, Ace.” I turn back to her. “I lied about my life.”
