After The Cookies [COMPLETE]

23

| 2 WEEKS LATER |

"Good evening." Dr. Williams spoke greeting Fatima at the door for another one of their scheduled therapy sessions. Fatima greeted her back with a warm smile, "Afternoon."

Both of the women got settled in, for Fatima sat in her usual spot, the couch that was so comfortable she could quite literally fall asleep on and for Dr. Williams, she pulled up her office chair with her notepad. This would be Fatima's third session, finding time once a week to come in and seek some advice.

And you would think knowing Dr. Williams this long she would be comfortable with telling her, her business, but she wasn't. Large part due to that fact that if Fatima heard the shit aloud, she would be disappointed in herself for how far she has come just to allow it to happen again, just in a different way.

Last week Dr. Williams spent majority of their session diving past the surface level with Fatima, just like she did the first go around many years ago. "How are you doing today?" Blowing a raspberry with her lips, "...living." Fatima replied back. "Just living? Why that word? How is the home life?"

"I used that word because that was honestly the first thing that came to mind, it's hot as hell outside, bills still gotta be paid, the kids school got a million and one field trips, and it's just been me handling it."

"Just you?" She asked for clarification.

"I haven't heard from Zac in over two weeks so there's that." Fatima admitted. "So with that being said, I kinda had to take on everything again, but I am grateful to be back at our old house and not the rental we were temporarily staying at, the kids need some consistency in their life."

"Haven't heard from him? What exactly that does that mean?" Her therapist asked diving right into it. "He had a seizure a few weeks ago and he has been recovering at his parents house, I offered to help out, but both his parents declined the offer. Something with Zac saying no or something, but that's all I really know."

"He hasn't tried to reach out to you?"

"Not exactly...I haven't directly heard from him but I get daily calls from his parents about his condition and stuff. From what I was told, the doctors did a bunch of testing just to see what may have caused the seizure, it obviously won't be 100 percent, but they were able to see the cause. I don't know what the doctor revealed but whatever it was, blew Rich and Veronica's gasket in that room." Fatima chuckled just imagining all the things that Veronica said, she wish she could've been a fly on the wall. Main reason for the secrecy was because Zac wanted to be the one to tell Fatima he was addicted to pills, not her hear it from his parents.

"And how did that make you feel? Somewhat being left out of the mix, does that put things into perspective in terms of his behavior?" Her therapist asked her.

"I think this time away has been a good thing for both of us, truthfully. And I also think Zac needs to put some self love into himself right now because he is looking for it in all the wrong places and wrong people. Maybe staying with his parents for right now is the best thing for him, allow him to get back to his roots, and allow him to become the best version of himself again."

"And if that were to happen, what would you think?"

"I honestly don't know but what I do know is, him having a seizure won't automatically make me go cling to him like those cliché ass movies. There's a lot of work that needs to be done before he even thinks about our marriage. His main focus should recovering from everything he has been through and rebuilding that trust with our kids."

"Understandable." She jotted some things down on a notepad that rested on her lap. "Prior to his seizure, how were things like? I know you moved out of the home, did you see any changed behavior from him?"