Chapter 383

“Flip it,” Doctor Samson prompted. It had become a shorthand in the conversation to prompt me to focus back on the ‘I’ statements instead of just telling what happened like it was a story instead of something that I’d been through. He’d need to use it frequently as I got through telling him about the last week, keeping the sexual details out of it but making it clear how things had

I nodded and wiped at my face. The second round of beers was gone a while ago and he hadn’t offered a third - probably a good idea - and I was still sitting on that brown leather chair but leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. “I feel blessed as hell to be in th situation that I am, but I’m also so fucking stressed,” I said. “I mean ... I feel like I shouldn’t feel stressed - I’ve got so many gorgeous, empathetic women wanting to support me. And friends willing to listen, too. But I’m always worried about... I feel like I should be doing the supporting. Helping carry the load for them. That’s what I do.”

The Doctor nodded slowly. “OK, that’s an interesting insight.”

“Is it, though?” I asked. “I mean ... it feels kind of obvious.”

“You’d be surprised, Robbie,” he said. “Most healthy relationships that last go through periods where one partner is shouldering a bit more of the load than the other based on the life seasons they are going through. It sounds like you’ve been doing that for a long time now, and you’re very used to it. What do you think about the fact that you were filling that role, but Cassidy sounds like she was carrying a lot more than you realised?”

“Bad,” I said immediately.

“And-” he checked his notes, which he’d started taking once I was juggling more than a few names of girlfriends. “What about Wanda? Do you think you’ll be able to shoulder most of the emotional weight of her divorce for her?”