“Oh? What do you have planned?”
He paused and stared at me intently. Measuring his words? “I’ve been working really hard on a potential merger and all the legal papers have been drawn up. A meeting on Monday morning should complete the deal. There is nothing to do this weekend but relax and try to enjoy myself.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan. What do you do to relax?” I couldn’t help but enter therapist mode as we started, even though I had completely different plans for this session.
“You know. A friend asked me to join him on his yacht this weekend. I think I might take him up on it. Some sun and the ocean breeze might do wonders for me.”
“That sounds delightful. You don’t have your own yacht?”
“I live somewhat modestly. I’ve been pouring money back into my business for the last ten years.”
“And how has that worked out for you?”
“Not bad. If this merger goes through, I’ll double my net worth and triple my income potential.”
“Will your wife be joining you?”
“That might ruin the mood, don’t you think?”
I wrote my thoughts on that.
“Tell me, how do you feel when your wife, Scarlet, touches you or you touch her?”
“It feels uncomfortable now. Like an obligation.”
“An obligation?”
“Yeah. I feel like I’m going through the motions to appease her.”
“Interesting. Why did you ask for ten sessions specifically, Mr. Baxter?” That instinctual feeling that there was something Dirk wasn’t telling me triggered and I felt a tightness in my gut.
I uncrossed and crossed my legs.
He shifted in his seat a bit and then sighed.
“It’s a clause in my prenuptial agreement. Since I decided to divorce her, I agreed to go to ten therapy sessions. If I do, then her divorce settlement is reduced. If I don’t, she gets a much larger sum.”
“And you don’t want her to get the larger sum?”
“It might jeopardize this merger. I need a certain amount of capital to complete the deal.”
“So, if you didn’t have this merger going on, you might be okay with giving her the larger amount?”
“Perhaps. Wait. No. That’s not right.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Can I be straightforward with you?”
“Please do.” I jotted down more notes.
“I made a mistake in marrying her. Over the course of our marriage, I’ve already invested over thirty million in her career, her projects, and her monthly spending account. She’s already benefited greatly from our marriage. Even if I didn’t have this merger going on, I would want to minimize the amount of money she gets in a settlement.”
“Out of spite?” I waited with a pen hovering over my notepad.
“Not really. She’s terrible with money. She would just throw it away.”
“What’s it worth to you to get out of this marriage with as few entanglements as possible?” The question held a lot of relevance to me.
I’d finally given in to my ex-husband’s demands just to get out of the marriage. It had cost me full custody rights to my kids and much more limited visitation, but I couldn’t stay in that relationship. I felt the same energy from Dirk, but I also felt like he was still holding on too tight to something. Was he any better or worse than my ex?
“I honestly hadn’t thought of it like that. I don’t know.”
