The Hook-Up (Part Two)

Chapter 248

"Then come over tomorrow for dinner. Your sister will be here too and I'm sure Tracy would love to see you too." her father answered.

"But don't ask about Bruno. I'm done. I just want it to be over." she told her father.

"That's fine. I would rather you never talk to him ever again." Richard told her.

"I know." she sighed turning into her apartment complex feeling sorry for the way her father was reacting for a split second.

**

Bruno sat down across from the plainly dressed counselor who flipped through a few papers before looking up at his client. "Hello." the counselor said with a smile. "How are you feeling today?" he asked Bruno.

"I could be better." Bruno shrugged.

"What makes you say that?" the therapist asked.

"I tried with her last night. I tried everything but she left. She just said that she still wants to get a divorce. I'm coming here, I'm not drinking, I left Damaris. I did everything she wanted but she won't even acknowledge it. I've still just messed up everything and I can't do anything right. It's almost like she's doing this just to see how far she can push me before she finalizes the divorce." he finally got out.

"So you think that she's playing games with you and that she doesn't really want to make it work?" Matt, the therapist asked.

"Now that I say it, yeah. She just likes seeing my beg and plead and cry and everything. Like it's worthless." Bruno said sounding almost depressed about the current state of his marriage.

"Have you asked her about that?" Matt asked.

"No. I just thought about it right now. She's just playing games with me because I did it to her. She's being a huge bitch." he complained.

"Is there anything that you could do about that?" Matt asked unsure about the answer.

"I don't know." Bruno answered. "I don't know what to do."

"Then let's talk about it...." Matt told him.

"I told her what we talked about though. And I thought she understood that she makes me feel this way..." Bruno tried to tell his therapist.

"What was her reaction?" he countered.

"She was a little shocked but it obviously didn't work any. She still yelled at me and told me that I screwed everything up." Bruno told him.

"And what did you say back?" the therapist questioned.

"I got really sarcastic and mean. And then she left. I told her she thought she was perfect but she's not." Bruno said trying to read his therapist's reaction. Instead of being upset at Bruno he wrote down something and then started talking again.

"I think..." he paused. "I think that we need to do some role playing. I know it's silly and I know that I won't get it exactly right..." Bruno looked at the counselor a bit more confused than usual.

"Umm. I guess I can try that...."

**

The next evening Lauren drove the twins and herself to her father's house after deciding that day that she was going to divorce Bruno. She parked next to her brother-in-law's car seeing as many things in their car as she had in hers...and they had four kids. She trudged into the house to a cheerful welcome from her father's girlfriend and father. The oohed and awed at the twins and how big they were since the last time they saw the babies. Everyone sat down for dinner shortly after she was welcomed in the home. Somehow her father had everything there for her, including two high chairs and a changing table in an extra bedroom. "Did you think that I would come around eventually?" she asked her father over dinner.

"Of course I did." he said handing Ezra something to eat.

"Well, I'm glad I did come around to making my decision." she said with a smile.

"What was it?" Tracy asked.

"He yelled at me today and told me I thought I was perfect. It was just ridiculous. I never have ever felt that way about myself." she told them. As the words came out of her mouth Larissa cleared her throat trying to make a point. "What?" she asked her sister.

"Don't be such a stuck up brat, Laur." Larissa said bluntly. "You totally think you're perfect in all this. I don't want you to go back to him, but you have to realize you made mistakes too."

"What are you talking about? I know I did make mistakes. But his were bigger." she told her sister. "We'll talk after dinner." she said to her sister knowing that she actually did like them together and would persuade her the other way. Larissa smiled at her sister and went back to dinner.

About an hour later Lauren sat in the living room with her sister and her children while her husband and their father went outside to play with Larissa's kids. "What were you talking about?" Lauren asked.

"Laur. I want you two together. You know that." she told her sister. "You complete each other. You're not yourself when you're not with him. The past week you've been way happier and a lot nicer. Until now..."

"I don't get it." Lauren said confused.

"You are a bitch sometimes." Larissa told her sister. "I've been there for some of your arguments and I've had to keep myself from shaking you. Like when you two got in a fight on Halloween about your costume."

'That was nothing." Lauren said remembering the argument.

"Yes, he's been an ass. Yes he's messed up a lot. But, from what you've told me since you sent him those papers he has been nothing but an angel to you and the twins." Larissa reasoned with her sister.

"We can't be in a room without arguing with each other, though. And that's not helpful and we yelled at each other with the babies there this last time. They're going to figure it out sometime, Riss. They're going to pull away from each of us and they're going to have their own issues that we're responsible for creating. And I don't want that to happen. I want them to be happy kids that aren't afraid of anything..and I'm afraid they're going to be afraid of us." she told her sister. "No matter what we do we yell at each other at some point."

"You know Jake and I yell at each other .And we do it in front of the kids too. But we also take a break from each other and come back and say we're sorry. You said you were sorry didn't you?" Larissa asked.

"Yeah. I said I was sorry. He said he was sorry too." she said with a lowered tone.

"Then call him and tell him you want to talk to him. Tell him you want to work in it as much as he does. And for fucksake quit holding all the things he's done to you against him." Larissa told her sister picking up her niece to play with her.