Tacoma Falls: Blazing Hearts

Therapy is going well

Shepherd

I met with Lucy to discuss my current situation with Maury. I needed perspective. And hell, if I wasn't going to get it.

I sat on Lucy's couch in her office and filled her in on everything happening. She sat in a chair, wrote on a pad of paper, and listened while I spilled my guts. I needed guidance on how to proceed with Maury.

"What do you think, Doc?" I asked.

"It sounds like you want to work towards a reconciliation with your ex. But I will advise you it won't be easy. Your ex experienced rejection his entire life. Instead of people getting to know your ex, they judged him based on another person's words."

"How do I get Maury to understand I mean what I say?"

"You'll need to show him. But first, let's revisit D-day."

"What's D-day?"

"It's the day you discovered your ex's infidelity. You were angry when you witnessed the betrayal. I want you to dive deeper."

"Like how?"

"Think back to that day. Walk me through the events that led up to you discovering your ex's betrayal."

I thought long and hard about that day and recounted everything I did. Any conversations I had with people. Any places I visited—my plans for that day.

"Now, I want you to tell me about your interactions with your ex before the day."

I told Lucy about my conversations with Maury. Nothing seemed amiss, except he seemed more stressed because of work. I told her about Maury's assistant and how I didn't trust him.

"You told me you had doubts about Maury's assistant. You voiced your concerns and felt like Maury ignored them."

"In a nutshell."

"Why?"

"I felt like Maury wasn't listening to me."

"Did Maury ever try to reassure you?"

"All the time."

"Yet, it wasn't enough."

I shook my head.

"Shepherd, when you discovered Maury's betrayal, it reinforced you were right about your concerns. Your anger stems from your belief that your ex disregarded your concerns."

"Wait. Are you saying I was more pissed at Maury for not listening to me than what he did?"

"Yes. Let me explain. We trust our partners until they give us a reason not to. We expect our partners to listen to us and understand our concerns. When our partners ignore us, it reinforces resentment. You resent your ex for not listening to you."

I pondered what Lucy said.

"But you also didn't communicate with your ex when he wanted to explain."

I stared at Lucy.

"Anger prevents us from getting the full explanation. People want to know why. Why would my partner cheat on me? They get angry when their partner can't tell them why. Because their partner doesn't have the answer."

"How can you not have the answer to why you cheat?"

"People assume cheating is linear. It's not. It's a very complex situation with many layers. But it all stems from one thing."

"What's that?"

"Insecurities."

"But Will drugged Maury."