The New Husband(49)
Hours ago, Nina had wrapped up her first home visit since resuming her career—a trip to Wendy Cooper’s house to conduct a formal assessment for the custody hearing. While it was an extremely productive session, it had also dredged up feelings she desperately needed to discuss.
“So what was it about the home visit that has you so on edge?” Dr. Wilcox asked, parroting Nina’s words back to her.
Nina mulled this over a moment. “Wendy was lovely and the kids were great,” she said. “There were no red flags. I didn’t sense anything amiss.”
“But—” Dr. Wilcox correctly guessed there was more.
“But even though I was there as an impartial professional, I couldn’t help but reflect on my marriage. I wondered if my story was somehow similar to Wendy’s. I mean, her big complaint was that her soon-to-be-ex, Michael, was a workaholic, which was Glen’s MO as well.”
“It’s natural for anyone to make comparisons and look for parallels to their life experience. Did you pick up on other similarities between you and Wendy?”
Nina nodded. “For sure. The kids came to Wendy for everything—a glass of water, help finding the TV clicker, help with homework. We were probably interrupted five or six times for this or for that. But I didn’t think anything of it until after I left, because that was my life, too. I was the go-to person in the family for everything and Glen would breeze in and out when his work commitments allowed. I know it’s a common story, but it definitely caused tension in my marriage, Wendy’s, too, but what’s strange for me, and I guess what I wanted to talk about today, is that it actually made me think of Simon. I kind of have the reverse problem with him. It’s like I’m the workaholic, even though I’m not anything like Glen, or Michael Cooper, from what Wendy described.”
“Can you say more on that?”
Nina gave it some thought.
She was reticent to admit it aloud, but if ever there was a safe place to share, it was here. “I guess…” She cleared her throat. “I guess, lately, this tension between us, over my job mainly, it’s made me feel a little more uneasy about my decision to move in with Simon.”
Dr. Wilcox’s brow furrowed. “Why do you think that is?”
“I’m not sure,” Nina said. “I knew getting married, even engaged, would be too much change too fast for Maggie and Connor, for me as well, but honestly I didn’t think Simon living with us would create so many challenges. He keeps saying my working is bad for Maggie, but I get the feeling it bothers him for some other reasons.”
“Maybe those insecurities of his.”
“Maybe. And on top of all that, my good friends, Ginny and Susanna, are upset with me because I’m not seeing them nearly as much as I used to—dinner plans, movie plans, all canceled at the last minute. I know they blame Simon for it, but there’s always a valid excuse.”
Nina told Dr. Wilcox about the most recent incident, when Simon bought theater tickets as a surprise for the same night she had had dinner reservations with her friends.
Simon had been upset about the conflict, but told Nina to go to dinner if that was her preference. Of course she couldn’t go; it didn’t seem right, and those tickets were expensive. But finding a new date to get together with her friends was proving to be a bit of a chore.
“It seems I’m always canceling plans with them,” Nina lamented. “And my new job isn’t helping matters any.”
“Have you talked to Simon about it—his issues with your work, your friends’ concerns?” asked Dr. Wilcox.
“No, because I’m sure he’d deny it all. He’d say he was happy I was working again and that Ginny and Susanna were overreacting. I know he means well.”
“Good intentions don’t preclude your feelings. Perhaps now would be a good time for Simon to come in and we could meet together, or separately if he’d prefer.”
Dr. Wilcox’s suggestion made Nina cringe. It seemed incredibly indelicate to bring this to Simon now that he, not Glen, was the focus of these sessions.
“You’re hesitant for him to come here,” Dr. Wilcox said after a brief silence.
Nina thought of several lies she could tell but opted instead for the truth. “I haven’t told him I’m seeing you,” she confessed.
“Really? Why not?”
Nina explained that she didn’t want Simon to think she wasn’t perfectly happy with him, or saddle him with doubts at the start of their new life together.
“It sounds to me, Nina, like what you’re really confessing here are your own doubts.”
“I can’t afford to make another mistake with a man,” Nina admitted.
“We’ve talked about this before, but let me ask again. Have you learned more about Simon’s past, his family?”
Perhaps this was at the root of her mounting anxiety. Therapy was a magical thing, and Dr. Wilcox had helped reveal something Nina had tried to deny. The shock and wounds she’d suffered with Glen made it impossible to feel totally comfortable with Simon, and his newly revealed insecurities around her job were compounding the issues.
“There’s not much on his family other than what I told you—father was strict, ex-military, rule oriented.” Nina didn’t go into Simon’s fixation about the tree branches, and how his upbringing probably played a role in that obsession. “And from what Simon’s told me, aside from her depression, his mother was a very kind, loving, stay-at-home mom. Both his parents sadly died when he was in his twenties.”