Page 70 of Best Kept Vows

“That’s why we’re going to therapy to learn, baby.”

“Hmm.”

“Lia?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not allowed to be with other men. This ain’tFriends,and we’re not on a break.”

I giggled. “Definebe.”

He growled. “Woman, you know what I mean.”

I raised my head, still smiling. “You think I’d ever cheat on you?”

“No,” he said without hesitation.

“Good.” I went back to curling into his side.

That night, when Sebastian left, I almost asked him to stay, but it was too soon for us to go back to beingus, pretending things were okay when they were not, papering over our problems by having sex.

But damn it! I missed sex.

CHAPTER 24

Sebastian

Our first couples counseling session waspainful.

It was emotional and raw.

After, Lia went to her place, and I wandered the streets. The heat of the summer night settled weightily over the city, amplifying the heaviness in my chest.

It was my first time going to therapy, and I honestly didn’t understand why anyone would want to do that to themselves.

The session with Dr. Monica Ryan was like stepping onto a battlefield naked and unarmed. She didn’t let me deflect, and she didn’t let Lia minimize her pain to keep the peace. She forced us to sit in the wreckage of what I had done, peeling back the layers of resentment and distance, making me see how deep the cracks had run. And all this in just fifty-five fucking minutes!

“Mostly, I was afraid of saying anything,” Lia explained, her eyes closed as she answered Dr. Ryan’s question as to whyshe didn’t open up to me about how she felt. “I felt like if the choice were between his family and me, he’d pick them.”

Of course, I knew that things were bad, but hearing her say aloud how bad they were, hearing it laid bare, broke me.

“Baby, you and the kidsaremy family,” I protested.

Lia shook her head. “That’s not how it felt, Sebastian. You asked me to conform. I never heard you ask your mother or your sister or your father to treat me with respect. You let them say what they wanted and told me to ignore it.”

Ihaddone that.

“Hearing this, how does it make you feel?” Dr. Ryan asked me.

“Like I’m the worst fuck up in the world.”

Dr. Ryan nodded.

She was what you called a handsome woman. She put you instantly at ease. She had some of the same qualities as my wife—warm and inviting, but there was no mistaking her sharpness, which was softened by the salt-and-pepper curls framing her face.

“And how doyouthink Lia felt? Feels?”

I felt shame because I knew how it made her feel. “Unseen. Invalidated.”