“Wait until tomorrow when they bring out the cherry. Your life will be changed.”
Wilder rubs his stomach. “I look forward to it.”
Ignoring them, I make my way inside the cabin and then take a look around to get familiar with my surroundings. All I can say is…wow.
I’m stunned.
After seeing Sanders’s office in New York and the basketball presentation last night, I half expected to bear witness to an agglomeration of sports memorabilia with a roomful of trophies, basketball hoops as seats, and bleachers as a couch.
But this cabin…it’s…it’s normal.
There’s a comfortable-looking couch off to the left, a wingback chair to the right with an oak coffee table in between. A blue area rug breaks up all the wood and coincides with the blue checkered curtains that hang over the window. A small fridge is near the door, and a balcony in the back offers a view of the lake.
Very, very normal.
It almost makes me feel uneasy.
“Welcome to the office.”
“This is your office?” Wilder asks, taking it in as well. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“Well, it’s not as fun to be in as my other one in the city, but I tend to not want to have distractions when we’re in this room. The conversations we share in here are more intimate, tougher. Couples need a space to be our honest selves, and I find with minimal decorating, we can have those honest conversations.”
“Makes sense,” Wilder says.
“Please, take a seat on the couch.”
Wilder and I both take a seat and get comfortable. Wilder drapes his arm over the back of the couch, while I cross one of my legs over the other. When we’re situated, Sanders sits himself in the chair across from us and then leans forward.
“How are you feeling so far?”
Well, here we go, a true and honest therapy session.
“Great,” I say with a smile. “Really great. It’s been a fun experience so far, and the cabin?—”
“Why are you lying?” Wilder asks, surprising me.
“Wh-what?” I ask, talking through my smile as I turn to face him. I attempt to speak through my eyes, saying,What the hell are you doing right now? Remember what we talked about?
“Why are you lying to him right now?” Wilder gestures toward Sanders. “Everything is not great.”
“I was just?—”
“No, enough with the lies,” Wilder says in a frustrated tone, jumping right into conflict. I’m…I’m not prepared. “We’re here to fix things, so let’s be honest with ourselves and with Sanders.”
“Thank you,” Sanders says while clapping. Oh brother. “I know that must have been hard on you, Wilder, but I appreciate the honesty.”
No, not this again.
Not this bromance in a therapy session all over again.
I don’t think I could take it.
“Well, if we’re going to do this, then we need to do it right,” Wilder says, a challenge in his eyes.
And I can see it, that spark, that intrigue. For him, this is fun. This is what he’s looking for in his life. And if that’s what he wants, then fine… I can play this game too. I don’t have to sit back and be embarrassed. If he wants to have a life experience, then by all means, Wilder, let’s play.
“He’s right.” I lean back on the couch and relax my body, shaking my limbs out. “I’m sorry. I was trying to put on a good face, but he’s very, very right. I’m lying. Nothing is great about being here, other than the cheese Danish I had this morning.”
