Miss Understood

Part 9 -- Hannah

I'm beyond tipsy.

"Blake, Blake ..." I yell at my roommate-slash-boyfriend, who never showed tonight.

He doesn't answer.

Clothes come off on the way to the bedroom, and I lay on the bed.

I forgot to put on my PJs.

In a minute. I'll do it in a minute.

It was nice of Jamie to call an Uber and stay until it showed up.

He's not that bad.

I can hear the shower running.

Blake.

I pry an eye open and look at the clock.

One o'clock?

Why is Blake showering at one in the morning?

I don't care. I'm going to sleep.

○ * ○ * ○ * ○ *

TGIF. Although this Friday will be a lot less boozy than last Friday's pre-wedding get together at Senor Gallo's. Tonight, I'm settling in with a good book while Blake attends some charity event that his firm is sponsoring. Usually, we spend Friday nights together—dinner, a movie, or both, sometimes even Netflix and chill, but it hasn't worked out like that for the past two weeks. It must be a sign we've reached adulthood or evolved our relationship to a point where we don't need to be attached at the hip anymore.

Paisley buzzes as an alert that my last appointment is here. The Rigels have trust issues. Specifically, Mrs. Rigel doesn't trust Mr.

Personally, I'm not sure if he's trustworthy or not, and in many ways that's beside the point. Healthy marriages require trust. I pull out their file and glance at my notes. "Send them in," I tell Paisley.

They settle into the couch, staking out positions at the opposite ends. Leah Rigel folds her arms across her chest. I get up from behind my desk and sit in the oversized chair facing them. It doesn't appear as if anything improved in the past week. If anything, it's gotten worse.

I open my notepad and uncap my pen. "So, last time, we were discussing trust issues when the session ended. I felt it was left unsettled. Has anything come up this week relating to that?"

Aaron Rigel doesn't hesitate. "For one thing, she called me ten times today."

Leah's face turns bright red, "That's because I couldn't reach you. I wanted to make sure you remembered our appointment with Hannah. You always call me right back."

"I told you, I couldn't call you back."

"But you wouldn't tell me why, would you?"

Aaron throws his hands in the air and shakes his head. "I can't believe we're discussing this. We're paying you to argue about how quickly I returned her call."

"Actually, you're paying me to get at the root of your problems, and to see if we can find strategies to eliminate them. Do you usually call Leah back quickly?"

"Immediately. I'm extremely responsive. Today, I was with a client."

"It's nice that your very responsive, but then, isn't it easy to understand how she might have worried? Isn't it possible that she could have been concerned that something had happened to you? An accident or something?"

"Exactly. I was." Leah squeezes her crossed arms with her hands.

"No, you weren't. You were worried that I was shacked up."