Date Night- The Fight

Marlena sat on the sofa reading while trying to pretend that the noise and clamoring going on in the kitchen wasn't driving her insane. Without fail, every second something slammed shut, fell to the ground and even found itself broken in the trash.

She and John had been at odds all week because of a little white lie and while Marlena could forgive John for his dishonesty, she struggled with how myopic and selfish he was behaving. How could he not see her point of view? How could he not understand why she was so incensed? Like all other issues they'd faced over the last 35 years, this one too would pass, but when?

"Damn it! Who put the damn butter in the refrigerator! Cold butter doesn't spread," yelled John to himself in the kitchen.

Marlena sat on the sofa listening to John's tantrum and didn't know how much more she could take. She suddenly heard the crash of pots and pans before John came out the kitchen in a huff, grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

"I'm going to grab breakfast at the pub! I hope they have soft butter and a decent cup of coffee since I can't get that here!" he said as he left their condo slamming the door behind him.

Marlena took a deep breath before reaching for her cell phone.

"Hi Marlena. How's John feeling?" asked Kayla.

"He's acting like a raving lunatic. Are the results back yet? I don't think I can take much more of this," said Marlena.

It had been 2 days since John's extensive checkup with Kayla. Marlena wanted to understand why John experienced tightness in his chest a few days ago while playing golf. John had the great fortune of having an episode while teeing off with Roman, who he'd sworn to secrecy.

"It's nothing. Whatever you do, don't tell Doc," John begged. "You know how she is. I'll go chat with Kayla and make sure everything is ok."

"I'm not getting in the middle of this, but if Marlena finds out that I knew you had a heart attack and didn't say anything...," began Roman.

"It wasn't a heart attack. It was just gas or heartburn. The old ticker is fine," assured John.

"So long as you go see Kayla immediately," pressured Roman.

John did go see Kayla and the EKG did show some things to be concerned about. It was at that moment that John made the decision to not tell Marlena about his incident at the golf course, or that he'd gotten questionable results and a list of limitations until they could isolate why he'd had an episode.

"I'm so sorry that you were put in this situation Marlena. John was just trying to spare you worry," said Kayla.

"Kayla, I can forgive him for not wanting to worry me. What I am having a hard time with is getting him to understand why I feel betrayed," said Marlena in exasperation. "We are supposed to have date night and we aren't even speaking."

Kayla lent a sympathetic ear. It was rare when the family therapist actually had the opportunity to vent and receive the latitude to have a meltdown. While Marlena had accepted the fact that she was always going to be held to a certain standard, it was refreshing to feel like everyone else.

"Well as you know, the first EKG was abnormal because of the imbalance in electrolyte minerals," said Kayla apologetically. "It was the false positive that started this whole thing."

"What started this whole thing was John not telling me about his episode with Roman at the golf course or that he thought he was in danger after the EKG," said Marlena plainly. "I just need him to understand why this is a trigger for me."

The truth of the matter was, Marlena still had nightmares to this very day about that dark period when she thought John had died. She never knew that her life could reach such a low point until she kissed his head for the last time and said goodbye. She never actually healed from that trauma and while she knew the lingering effects of PTSD, she like John ignored what was best for herself and pushed on. Marlena recognized her own hypocrisy and laughed at herself.