Chapter 1

Simone stood in front of her closet, shaking with anticipation while she attempted to select an outfit for tonight. She finally selected her tiniest, slinkiest black dress and started putting on her make up. Sipping a glass of Merlot, her second of the night, she was trying her best to calm her nerves as her mind raced through the events of the last 24 hours.

Sunday morning, she had finally had the nerve to confront Henry with the evidence of his affair. She waited for him to come home from his 'night out with the boys', which she knew full well was really a night in a hotel with the tramp he was fucking.

After she had confronted him with the credit card bills and photos she had taken while following him the night before, all hell had broken loose. She had screamed and cried, flinging pieces of their wedding china at him, landing one right in the back of his head. After that he had turned and come at her, and Simone had thought he was about to strike her. Instead he grabbed her, holding her tight as he began to apologize.

Henry agreed to end his affair and get a marriage counselor first thing in the morning. After that, she had sat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, vaguely aware of him puttering around the house cleaning up the mess her fury had created.

When Henry had called her just after lunch to tell her that he had gotten a reference for a counselor from a client, she was surprised to hear the name, Dr. Cynthia Ryan. It was amazing enough that Henry had suggested a marriage counselor but a female counselor was completely against his personality. Her husband was sexist, though she had only discovered that after years of marriage. His business associates were always men, and he made little comments that made it clear what he thought of women in the office.

They left after a simple dinner. The office building was very upscale, not shocking considering the sort of people her high power attorney husband worked with. It was Dr. Ryan that was a shock. She was tall and thin with long perfectly kept hair with a movie star face and her body moved gracefully. Her breasts where no larger than a B-Cup, nowhere near as large as Simone's own natural beauties, but they were shapely and would be considered desirable by almost any man. Despite her skirt being too short and her heels being too tall, Simone had to admit that Dr. Ryan was classy looking.

After nicely talking around the problems in their marriage, Dr. Ryan had Simone leave the room while she spoke to Henry alone. Fifteen minutes later, Henry emerged, looking a bit embarrassed as he told her that she was next. Simone sat down in front of the doctor and before she knew it, had broken down and spilled out every detail of her troubled marriage. Dr. Ryan came from around her desk to sit next to her, holding her as she sobbed.

When Simone had finally calmed down, Dr. Ryan stood back, leaning on her desk as she looked down into Simone's eyes. She couldn't remember the first few minutes of what her counselor had said, only how calming Cynthia's voice had been, and how looking into her eyes had given her a real sense of peace.

Thinking back, she could remember bits and pieces of their conversation. She had thanked Dr. Ryan when she told Simone that she had gotten Henry to agree to end his affair. She told her that Henry, in his own way, was a loving and caring man. Since they had married, Simone had never wanted for anything. Henry never forgot a birthday or anniversary. They did not get to vacation much, but when they did, she had him all to herself. She didn't share her time with her husband with his smartphone like so many of her friends did.