"This is going to be fun!" she whispered sarcastically under her breath as they knocked on the door of Jenny's office. They entered to find a small kindly looking woman in her early fifties standing near the couch. The room was decorated in rich leathers and furnishings that exuded a subtle elegance and opulence that offended Barbara. She looked around barely hiding her disdain.
Jenny noticed the look. She had read their questionnaires and thought this couple would prove interesting. They were clearly alike in so many ways and yet so different in others. Theirs would be a fiery but passionate marriage she was sure. On the surface it had every indication that it should not work but in their answers to the deeper psychological questions this pair seemed ideal.
"Good afternoon Tommy and Barbara," she said extending her hand, "I am Jenny and I will be your counsellor while you are here. Please sit down." She indicated that they should sit on the couch.
"So what brings you to our Centre?"
Tommy and Barbara looked at each other, neither answering. He found his voice first, "We seem to be struggling to connect with each other lately and we are fighting a great deal. We both want this marriage to work so we thought a stint here might help."
"Of course. And you Barbara; you also want this to work?"
Barbara flushed. She did not really know why but she suddenly felt very exposed. This woman might see through me and know I am not play acting. "Yes, my relationship with Tommy is the most important thing in my life." She noticed Tommy shift uncomfortably in the couch so was surprised when his hand came over and grabbed hers. He squeezed reassuringly and she looked at him. His eyes were telling her it was all going to be fine. They just had to stick to their story.
Jenny smiled kindly and noticed their reactions. This couple seemed to love each other but she was not sure whether they really believed that they were in love and not just friends. She ran through their answers with them exploring more about them and their relationship. She noted that the whole time they never stopped holding each other's hand reassuring and supporting each other. When they talked about his first wife, there was no jealousy or acrimony and she thought Barbara genuinely missed Helen. Tommy was very protective of Barbara when they talked about her resentment of the wealthy. Jenny was puzzled why they were there; they both seemed to understand and accommodate for each other very naturally. They seemed no more troubled than any other couple.
This changed however when she moved onto the topic of their sexual happiness. Barbara was clearly self-conscious and answered very defensively. Tommy seemed too blasé and thought things were fine. They had stopped holding hands and had moved further apart on the couch. Gentle probing questions did not help them relax or explain their issues. Barbara admitted to not being very good or experienced in physical love and Tommy seemed to be quite gentlemanly in never pushing her to have sex. Jenny sensed it had been a long time since these two were physically close in that way. This would give her something to work on. She prescribed a couples' massage lesson for that evening. They would resume their conversation with her in the morning. In her experience the massage class helped to loosen couples up.
Tommy and Barbara felt exhausted. There had been things in the conversation that they both found uncomfortable. Barbara was worried that bringing up Helen would make him melancholy but he did not seem unduly depressed. She had not meant to tell Jenny how inadequate she felt in so many situations but she supposed the woman was good and had coaxed her into it.
"Let's take a walk before dinner." Tommy suggested. Barbara knew he wanted to talk without being overheard.
"That sounds lovely Tommy," she said in her best toff imitation. Tommy looked at her surprised. Who stole Havers?
In the gardens they checked and decided they were alone and sat on a bench overlooking a small ornamental lake. "That was harder than I thought," Barbara said, "Thanks for being so supportive. Holding my hand was a nice touch, I think she believed that was genuine. I did not know what to say when she started talking about our sex life."
It was genuine. Tommy tried to sound sympathetic but unconcerned. "That was not easy on either of us. I think she wants to downgrade our answers about our sex life to "non-existent". I don't think we fooled her on that one."
He felt a lot more buoyant than Barbara obviously did. He had found that talking through some their answers had actually helped him come to terms with something he had known, but not wanted to admit, for a while now. He was falling in love with Barbara. He did not quite know when it had started but he suspected a long time before he was even vaguely aware of it. Now he had to decide what to do about it. Before he even thought about it he had reached out and squeezed her hand again. She looked at him surprised. The look was so endearingly innocent he could not help himself and lent down and kissed her gently on the lips. He suddenly felt alive. He hoped that she would return the kiss but she seemed frozen. Tommy reluctantly moved his head away from hers. He was being a fool and he would frighten her. Why should he think she would feel the same way? Poor girl doesn't even know what love feels like.
Barbara was shocked at first. What is he doing? At first she thought he had lost his senses then it dawned on her someone must have been watching them. Even so, kissing her seemed a bit extreme. She whispered, "Was someone watching us?"
It was easier to lie than tell her the truth when it was obvious that he had been mistaken in thinking she may feel the same way. "Yes sorry, it was Jenny. I thought that after that session she would expect us to talk. I thought that might avoid any more massage classes."
Barbara groaned. "Yes I am dreading that. I am not good with people touching me."
"Well good job it is me then and not people." He stood and started to walk back towards the mansion. The next three days were going to be intolerable.