The next week was spring break, so the kids were home with me most of the time. Steven went to his buddy’s house one night, and Tommy said he wanted to go out on a date with a girl on another. Mom came by to take me to therapy still, and I still hurt after every one of my sessions. I think it was starting to help some though, as I was able to stand up to go pee, instead of having to sit now. It’s sad that I was marking my healing progress by that measure. I think my next major goal should be to jerk off with my left hand instead of my right. I chuckled at that a little.
On Thursday of that week, my wife called me to tell me that she started seeing someone, and wondered if I would be willing to meet with them the following Tuesday. I told her I would, but made it clear that if I didn’t like it, I would not be going back.
I had a lot of time on my hands, so began to think about what I was going to do to Jim. He really does deserve to get his ass kicked, or something. I still can’t believe he would do that. He must really have it bad for my wife, to ruin a life-long friendship that I thought we had.
The next week I went to the counselor, and wasn’t shocked when it was a woman. She looked to be in her mid-fifties and had a very professional look about her. Her name was Doctor McGregor, but preferred to be called Rose. I was a bit apprehensive to be in her office, but she was not aggressive in any way. Sidney came with me and waited out in the lobby while I talked with the doctor alone.
“Mr. Jordan I asked your wife to sit out this one time, so that I could talk with you alone first. Do you mind if we jump right in? Good. Your wife told me her side of things, but I am interested in talking about you and your marriage before your accident. Can you tell me more about how you two met?”
“I guess. Jenn and I met in college, which I am sure she already told you. She and I had some of the same friends, and we ended up dating. At the time, I thought she was the most beautiful woman ever. She still is, but as you can guess I am not very happy with her right now.
“After we dated for a while, I just knew she would be my wife. We got along great, and had so much in common. I had never felt so alive with anyone before, and had never been with a woman as easy going as her.”
She wrote a few notes as I talked, and looked up when I finished. “So, how was your love life back then? Did you two have sex often?”
“Well, yeah, we did. We were both young and in love. She wasn’t wild or anything like that, but we both really made sure the other was taken care of.”
More notes. I get it, she was a shrink, but the note-taking was going to get old fast. “Mr. Jordan…”
“Please, call me Matt.” I said.
“Ok, Matt. Could you tell me more about your life after college and your wedding?”
“Well after we graduated… no… take that back. We got engaged while we were both seniors, but decided to wait until we graduated to get married. We had a big church wedding, and it was probably one of the best days of my life. After a great island getaway honeymoon, we came back here to be together.”
“Thank you for being open with me, Matt. I am sure this isn’t easy for you, especially with everything going on. We are nearing the end of the session time but would you be willing to come back with your wife in about two weeks? I have a few more one-on-one sessions with her before I want to bring you both together.”
“I would be ok with that. Doc, be honest with me. Do you think we have a chance to work this out?”
“That depends entirely on the two of you. I will do my best to foster a good place for you both to communicate your problems, but ultimately, any decision has to happen between you and your wife.”
I thanked her and left with my mom. At this point I was able to walk most of the way without help, but still, she held my arm.
The next two weeks were spent doing a lot of the same. I was going to my therapy sessions, talking with the kids and my mom, and Jenn came over several times a week to see the kids. Sidney was still helping me out a lot, and still gave her mother the cold shoulder. I told her that she should try not to let the issues between Jenn and I get in the way of her bond with her mother. I think she felt almost as betrayed as I did, most of the time.
We had a few of the joint sessions together, but sadly, I was getting no closer to forgiving my wife than I had when we started. Maybe this wasn’t going to work out after all?
A few more weeks of therapy, and I would be scaled back to just a weekly office visit to see how I was doing. I couldn’t wait to be done with all those exercises, even though the therapist told me that I would need to continue with the home work-outs for a while after she was done with me. All I know is that day couldn’t come soon enough, so I could get back to work.
*******
Jennifer is trying
So after a few of the sessions with Doctor McGregor, I was starting to realize that maybe I had always been weak willed. She asked me a lot of questions about my past, before I dated Matt, and even before I went to college.
I told her that my parents were both caring people, and I thought I had a pretty good childhood. My best friend at the time was like my protector. She was a tougher girl named Rachael, and she always had my back. I was heart-broken when she moved away in the 9th grade. High School was tough, but I made it through.
I had dated a few boys in my Junior and Senior years, but only had sex with two. Both were pretty lousy, but I had always just chalked that up to age and lack of experience. I had never been a loose or easy woman in college, even before meeting Matt. I will say that my friend Tammy did drag me out to a lot of parties, but I thought I fended off the guys pretty well most of the time. I am going to be honest, I wasn’t a nun either though, and did have sex with a few of them. None just seemed to really do it for me.
When I met Matt, we just clicked. Unlike most of the other guys that I knew, he wasn’t very pushy to try to get into my pants. Maybe that’s one of the things I liked about him most at the time. He truly seemed to be a nice guy. I had to make the first move and ask him out.
I had always just thought of myself as a “go with the flow” kind of gal, but maybe part of my problem was that I was easily persuaded. I had always thought I was good about turning down the guys that didn’t interest me, or after I was married, but perhaps it was only because I knew what the guy was after.