Page 5 of Someone Like You

Giselle

I closed the file I had been reading and opened another one.

Before reading a single word, I removed my reading glasses and rubbed my eyes vigorously.

I had not been getting much sleep lately.

It seemed as if my sleep was peppered with dreams of Elijah.

And if it wasn’t Elijah, then it was Bethany and Casimir.

I looked at the clock that hung over the bookshelf and noted it was five minutes until the next appointment with the Perezes.

Part of me wished they would call and cancel.

I was tired of the ongoing battle of will between the couple and me.

Somehow, I had to regain control of these sessions and help them make some sort of progress once more.

Otherwise, I could not explain charging them for a service that was not beneficial to them.

I called Dr. Amelia Childs to see if she could take the couple on, especially as a favor to me.

Yet, my mentor and old friend had firmly stated she wasn’t accepting any new clients.

She was ready to scale back a bit as she prepared for retirement.

She had given me a couple of references whom she thought would be the perfect fit for the couple, but I had not had a chance to follow up with them.

Today, I needed to get to the heart of the matter.

What did they believe was the roadblock that hindered their progress to healing?

I needed to determine if they would be willing to tackle that issue and how committed to the fight they were.

There were some serious issues in their marriage, and I was certain they did not recognize all of them.

There was something a bit off about their marriage, but I had yet to put a finger on it. That was unlike me.

The buzzing of my phone drew me out of my thoughts.

Grabbing the phone from its cradle, I whipped out a snappy, “Yes?”

“Your next appointment is here,” Imani replied in a sing-song voice. “Positive energy,” she whispered, obviously noting my dark mood.

Looking at the clock again, I realized I could no longer avoid the inevitable.

“Okay, send them in,” I replied with a sigh.

“Mm-hmm,” Imani replied. There was something in her tone of voice when she made that one sound that alerted me something was going on.

“Lord, please guide me and help me to understand what I’m supposed to give to this couple. Use me, Lord, to do Your will,” I whispered after hanging up the phone with Imani.

A light knock at the door helped me to compose myself as I forced a smile on my face and placed my reading glasses on before I stood.

“Good evening, Mr. Perez. Where is Mrs. Perez?” I asked as he closed the door behind himself.

“She couldn’t make it again this evening,” he stated, walking to the couch and lowering himself onto it as if no further explanation was needed.

I hated the thrill of happiness that soared through me with his pronouncement. There was no way that I should be feeling this way nor basking in the warmth that floated through my body, knowing that I was about to be alone in my office with Casimir Perez again.

“Oh.” I walked back to my desk, sat down, and scribbled a couple of notes on a notepad. “She does realize that for this process to be successful, both of you need to be here, doesn’t she?”

Casimir’s eyes lowered to the floor before flicking back up to meet mine. Rubbing his hands together, he replied, “Yes, she knows. There was something important tonight that had to be taken care of.”

“More important than your marriage?” I challenged.

“I guess so, Dr. Champagne. I guess so.”

I noticed his tone sounded resigned, as if there were no other options.

“How do you feel about that, Mr. Perez?”

“Can we please dispense with the formalities, Doctor?”

“As in?”

“Can you please just call me Casimir? I’ll still reference you as Doctor if you prefer, but I’d like to leave all of that at the office. When I leave that place, I like to leave everything attached to it behind as well. And Mr. Perez is one of those things.”

“If that makes you more comfortable, we can do that. And just for the record, I don’t mind if you call me Giselle.”

He nodded his head and folded his hands together as if contemplating. I waited as he gathered his thoughts.

“I really don’t know how to feel about her making other things a priority over our marriage.

I can’t really say that it bothers me because that’s how it’s always been, and that’s what’s expected.

There are certain things in our circle that cannot be avoided.

Things are the way they are, and I understood that when we first decided to marry.

Do I like it?” He tossed his head from side to side as if weighing something on a scale.

“I don’t think I really care. Would I expect it in a normal marriage? No. I’d never tolerate it, but we don’t have a traditional marriage, Giselle. Perhaps, in the way they do in some countries, but not in the way I’ve been raised.”

“What do you consider a normal marriage, Casimir?” I was curious as to what he meant by traditional and normal. His comment had struck a note with me, causing me to wonder if that was the one thing that I had noted was different about their marriage.

I counseled couples who had open marriages, couples who married for business reasons, and couples who married for citizenship purposes. I couldn’t help but wonder which group the Perezes fell into. Surely not the latter.

“A marriage where two people commit their lives to one another to enhance each other spiritually, psychologically, socially, and emotionally. A relationship that is built on trust, love, honor, respect, and commitment. A circle of unity where two people can grow together and develop strength through the good and the bad times, and that union is impenetrable. I believe a normal marriage is one where the husband does not dominate his wife, but he leads her and lovingly guides her. And she respects him and trusts him to do just that. He knows their strengths and weaknesses. He stands strong in the areas where his strength is best displayed, and he stands back and allows her to do the same in her area. They are one unit in Christ. Friends. Lovers. One eternal heartbeat.”

Unclasping his hands, Casimir sat back, crossed his ankle over his left knee, and splayed his arms across the back of the couch. When his eyes met mine, I saw something in them that shook me to the core and caused my heartbeat to speed up.

Lord, help me , I prayed silently.

“Why don’t you believe you have that type of marriage?” I prompted.

He chuckled. “I’d think even you’d know the answer to that by now, Doc,” he teased, a glint in his eye.

“It doesn’t matter what I think, Casimir. I’d like to know how you feel.”

Rubbing his hand over the top of his head, he replied softly, “We have an arranged marriage, Giselle.”

Taken aback, I struggled inwardly not to allow my composure to reflect outwardly. The way he said my name sounded so personal; it was like an intimate caress. But it was his statement that shook me to my core.

Arranged marriages weren’t an unusual phenomenon, but in my culture, they were almost unheard of. How had a man like Casimir found himself in that situation?

Honestly, though he presented a polished, cultured professional when he attended sessions with his wife, it was the other side that he presented when she wasn’t here that intrigued me.

I knew that side was the real him. The side that spoke slang and was more relaxed.

The side of him that acted up, laughed, and flirted.

“I’m surprised that you even expected love from your marriage since it was nothing more than an arrangement.”

“Even the most cynical people need and want love, Giselle.”

“Did you set certain expectations up front?”

Tilting his head at an angle, he replied, “Yes, we did. But they weren’t the ones you would expect. I guess what I’m saying is none of this has caught me by surprise. I just don’t want it anymore, Doc.”

There was a pleading look in his eyes, but I could not decipher what his silent question was. I was having difficulty discerning what my analytical mind was saying versus what my heart spoke.

“Have you had this discussion with Beth?”

“No. It’s not that simple to terminate a marriage like ours.

A part of me hoped that she would come to an enlightened state of mind during these sessions, but I don’t see that happening.

So, now I need to formulate a plan of how to bring this to an amicable end, not just between her and myself, but between our families.

And that is the part that will be challenging, if not devastating.

I guess that’s why I’m here today. Knowing that my wife would not be in attendance, I needed to have this private conversation with you. ”

“Mr. Per . . . Casimir, may I remind you that I am a marriage counselor. It is my role to guide you in clarifying what the true issues are, how to implement resolutions in the marriage, and how to evaluate if your marriage is salvageable. I cannot assist in that without both of you here. There needs to be open and honest communication in the marriage between the two of you and a decisive attitude to move in one direction or the other.”

I stood and walked around my desk to sit in the chair beside the couch he occupied.