Baby Steps

3. Couple's Therapy

*Adam's POV*

Taylor and I sit beside each other on the couch in the therapist's office, listening intently to the lady sitting across from us. As soon as we had arrived at her office earlier, she immediately told us to address her by her first name, Michelle, so that we feel as if we're talking to a friend.

Michelle was a slim, low sized woman in her early fifties with blonde hair that was going grey at the roots, a huge pair of spectacles, and an expression which suggested that she had seen everything, and that nothing fazed her.

There's a glass coffee table in between Michelle's chair and the couch that Tay and I are sitting on, and copies of the psychology books that Michelle has written are proudly displayed on top.

I find that one of the books has an interesting title, and I can't help but smirk as I study the cover intently.
Saving your relationship in 7 simple steps: Michelle Brown's guide to structure, sex and solidarity.
I thought that it was ironic that Michelle was charging $1500 an hour to fix the relationships of the famous, when she had written a $20 book that claimed to do the exact same thing. Taylor glares at me when she sees my smirk, and I quickly wipe the smug look off my face.

There's an eerie silence as I feel Michelle studying my body language, and I quickly glance back at Taylor to see her reaction, but look away when she doesn't acknowledge the looks I was sending her way.

Honestly, this was completely out of my comfort zone, and sharing my feelings and thoughts with a stranger made me feel ridiculously uncomfortable, especially considering the fact that our lives were already constantly under public scrutiny for everyone to examine, but Taylor wanted to do this, and I wasn't going to say no. Now that I had gotten her back, I intended to do everything in my power to make her happy and comfortable, and if this made our relationship stronger, I was willing to try it.

Michelle clears her throat, snapping me out of my thoughts, and Taylor reaches over and grabs my hand all of a sudden. I can tell that she's nervous because her palms are clammy and her hands are shaking ever so slightly, so I give it a reassuring squeeze. I can feel Michelle's gaze resting on us, and I look directly into her eyes, waiting for her to say something. She opens her mouth and begins to speak.

"Okay, before we officially begin this session, I would like to establish some ground rules which have proven successful with other couples. Firstly, whatever is said in this room is completely confidential. I want my clients to be able to trust me, and for you two to get the most out of these sessions, you have to speak your mind. Don't hold back, because if you do, it will affect you in the future. Speak the truth, and do not sugarcoat things for the sake of the other spouse. Also, no physical contact should be made during therapy, so the two of you cannot be holding hands like you are now. Both hands need to be resting on your laps and both feet should be on the ground, to initiate a feeling of grounding and balance. Today we are going to establish the causes of the issues you both experienced, and from then on, we will work on ways to permanently discard them", Michelle finishes, sitting back and crossing her arms, looking at us smugly as we both let go of the other's hand and try to process all of the information that had just been thrown at us. I sit as instructed and Michelle nods, clearly satisfied so far.

"So, Taylor. Tell me a little bit about your relationship with Adam. Would you have called it a stable relationship before the break?", Michelle asks, grabbing a pen and notebook from the table in front of her and scribbling ferociously as Taylor begins to speak.

"We've always had a good relationship, even since the very beginning when we couldn't go anywhere without people thrusting cameras in our faces. I think that I can speak for us both when I say that we fell in love rather quickly, because it just felt right. We got married after almost three years of dating and everything was perfect. We were happy and there was rarely any serious conflict. It wasn't until Ollie turned 2 and I decided to go back to work that the conflict started", Taylor says, picking at her fingernails.