“I don’t want to talk out of turn about your dad.”
“Please. I want to know. I need to.”
“I know he and your mom had also been arguing a bit lately about … money.”
“Money?”
“Your dad apparently wanted a loan for his latest project? I guess he ran into some financing problems. It was alotof money. From her inheritance. It would have been nearly all of it. And you know how she feels about touching that money.”
Maybe my dad didn’t feel like this was relevant. But still I hear my mom’s voice in my ear:A lie of omission is a lie all the same.
“I’m sure that was a hard no.”
“Last I heard. And your dad was really not happy about that.”
“I can imagine,” I say.
“There is something else that I think you should know … But it’sreallynot good. It might upset you. Actually, it will definitely upset you.”
“Tell me,” I say. “If you think I should know—I trust you.”
“It makes your dad look … bad,” she says, eyeing me pointedly. It’s a warning—my last one. “I also don’t think—I’m not saying—I’m sure it’s not relevant to what’s happening with your mom right now. But it also doesn’t seemirrelevant.” She’s stalling.
“Lauren …”
“Fine, fine—your dad is having an affair, or at leastwas,” Lauren blurts out like she’s ripping off a Band-Aid.
My pulse is throbbing in my temples. It feels like my head is going to explode. “What?”
“Well, I guess technically it wouldn’t be an affair anymore. But it was with one of his students. Okay,formerstudent—she’s his assistant now—but still. Bella?”
I press a fist against my stomach.I don’t believe you.But Lauren has no reason to lie. And this is obviously not something she evenwantsto be telling me. Also, it rings true. I’ve always had a bad feeling about Bella. She was patronizing and arrogant, but it didn’t occur to me in a million years that she was sleeping with my dad. It probably should have.
“Oh.” My voice is very quiet.
“That’s why your mom asked for the separation. If you ask me, she had plenty of good reasons before. But she would have overlooked those—shewasoverlooking them. And then she saw some texts Bella sent. Once she realized your dad was having an affair, that was finally the last straw.”
If this is true—and I don’t have any reason to think it’s not—my dad lied. Right to my face and quite convincingly. I wait for the wave of anger to hit, the outrage. But I feel only hollow, gutted.
“Cleo?” Lauren asks. “You look … Are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t want to upset you …”
I’m standing. I don’t remember standing up.
“It’s okay. But I should, um, go.” I start for the door, feeling wobbly. I want to get out of here before I lose it again. I need to keep moving.
“Cleo,” Lauren calls after me. “It doesn’t mean—I’m sure your dad is as worried as we are.”
“I’m sure,” I say.
“Hey, Cleo, really …” Lauren catches up to me, places a hand on my forearm. “She’s going to be okay anyway. Your mom knows how to take care of herself.”
“Yeah, sounds like it,” I say as I open the apartment door. “It also sounds like there was a lot I didn’t know.”
TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED SESSION
DR. EVELYN BAUER
SESSION #2
