Too late now.

     “Why, don’t we start with why you are both here today?” Dr. Jones told the young couple Ken and Olive Wendall seated on the opposite sides of the couch in her office they had been married for two years, no children yet. She looked back and forth from the two couples but there was dead still silence in the room. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, in order for this to work we actually have to communicate”. Ken looked at Olive with anger and resentment in his eyes “she cheated” he hissed. 

Olive had a blank and expressionless look on her face, quiet and unapologetic. 

“Mrs. Wendall….” 

“Please call me Olive”.

“Olive is there anything you would like to say”.

“Not at all, I’m only here because he asked me to come”.

“You cheated on me, and you keep acting like you didn’t do anything wrong, not an apology, nothing”. Ken said angrily. Olive chuckled mockingly “I have nothing to apologize for”. 

“this is exactly what I’m talking about Dr. Jones she isn’t remorseful; I don’t even know why I bothered”. He looked at Olive.” I guess we might be beyond redemption then”. 

“Mr. Wendall, please calm down let’s get to the bottom of this because it seems there is a lot to unpack here”. Dr. Jones takes a deep breath she was used to this especially for first time couples, they always want to give up before even trying. 

“Why don’t we start from the beginning then?”

“Olive, why did you agree to come here, from what you have said your husband is the one that suggested counselling and you didn’t have to come?”. Olive took a deep breath and her blank expression had now changed into a more serious one.

“I’m not really sure. Maybe a part of me wants him to know why I did it, maybe a part of me feels bad, I don’t really know”. 

“Mr. Wendall, why suggest counselling, what do you hope to gain here?”

“I guess a part of me wants to fix us, to know why she would do something like this”. He said with a crack in his voice. “Why did you do it, I thought we were good Olive?”.

      There was a silence in the room and then a sudden outburst of laughter from Olive. 

“If you thought we were good, then you are oblivious”. There was a surprised and hurt look on Ken’s face, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Olive, can you tell us what happened, why did you cheat?”. Ken turned to look at Olive this is what he had been hoping to hear since he had caught her with their neighbor Bruce. 

“He was there” was all she said as she closed her eyes like she was trying to gather the rest of her words.

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“Mr. Wendall please, let’s listen to her”.

“Go ahead Olive”. Olive stood up and started pacing round the room.

“He was there to listen to me when I needed to talk to someone, help me change a light bulb, tell me I looked beautiful, notice when I changed my hair or fixed my nails.” She took another deep breath.

“He treated me the way I’ve always wanted Ken to treat me, he was kind, he didn’t laugh at my dreams or downplay them, he remembered my birthday when my own husband remembered a week later. He saw me and treated me like I mattered.” There were tears falling from her eyes then she whispered, “He saw me” as she made eye contact with Ken. 

Ken had a confused look in his eyes,

“That doesn’t justify what you did, you could have talked to me I would have done better”

“I tried several times, but you always shut me down, remember I asked you to spend weekends with me because you are always at work and you come back home late, you told me not to be ungrateful because you made sure I have a roof over my head and nice clothes. When I made that red hair, you told me I looked ridiculous, you laughed when I said I wanted to go back to school to study theater arts. You kept humiliating me in so many subtle ways, is it so absurd that I found comfort in the arms of the one man who was kind to me”. It felt like time had stood still Ken and Olive kept looking at each other not saying anything. 

“Mr. Wendall, how do you fell about this?”

“That still doesn’t justify what you did, you betrayed me you betrayed our marriage I don’t care what your excuse is, it doesn’t justify cheating on me!”. He said raising his voice. 

 “Well, there you have it” she looked at Dr. Jones “He didn’t do anything wrong and neither did I”.

“You slept with another man damn it, stop talking like you stole some candy.” He stood up from the couch. “You hurt me Olive seeing you with Bruce crushed me, how is that so hard for you to see, I might have not been the best husband in the world but sleeping with another man should not be punishment for my imperfections”. 

 “But sleeping with your secretary should be punishment for mine?”. 

    Dr. Jones looked at Ken in astonishment, Ken was suddenly quiet and had a surprised look on his face.

“Mr. Wendall is this true?”

“Yes, I finally found out why you worked so late, I came to surprise you on our anniversary I had wine, I had made reservations in your favorite restaurant, I even wore that dress you bought me on your last trip then I come to find my husband with his secretary bent over his office desk, do you know I stood there for at least two minutes in shock but you two were so busy to notice. Here I was doing everything possible to get my husbands attention not knowing he was just giving it to his secretary, what a cliché. After that it was just fair game my love”. She said with a smirk on her face, then proceeds to go back and sit on the couch. 

“Yes, Doctor Jones both my husband and I are adulterers, so you can see why I am not sorry”. I chuckled. 

“I am sorry this is a waste of your time though”. Doctor Jones took a deep breath and asked Ken to please sit back down. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, this has been intense so far, but the real question is do you both have any interest in actually saving your marriage at all?”

“Dr. Jones in all honesty I don’t see what the point is, I might not love Bruce, but he has shown me what I have been missing out on sexually. There are a lot of ways the female body can experience pleasure that I didn’t even know about and to be honest ever since I caught Ken cheating his very sight annoys me.” She turns to look at Ken who had been quiet since the big reveal.

 “You claim to love me, but you ruined us, I was a good wife, and I did the best I could, I guess it wasn’t enough for you and quite frankly this made me realize you are not enough for me either, I am not sorry I cheated I am only sorry I got caught, there was a certain thrill attached to sneaking around”.

“Mr. Wendall, what about you?”. He now had a more sober and remorseful look on his face.

“I don’t love Ava either she was just sex to me, I still love you and I still want us to work I want to give this a shot. If you give us a chance, I will do right by you, I promise lets just give it another try. We both hurt each other, we can heal from it together”. 

“Tell me what was it? What was the reason why you even slept with her in the first place?”. Olive asked with a serious look on her face. 

“I don’t really know?”

“That is not a good enough answer, if you can’t be honest with me then what’s the point?”

Olive and Dr. Jones looked at Ken waiting for an answer

“Mr. Wendall, your wife is asking you to be honest with her, whatever your reason is, however painful you think it might be for her she wants to know”. 

“Because I wanted to, I felt like sleeping with her and so I did”. Olive just nodded slowly. 

“Thank you for being honest with me and thank you Dr. Jones for your time”. Olive picked up her bag and stood up before she looked at Ken 

“I don’t think this is worth fighting for, Ken I don’t have any fight left in me”. And with that Olive left the room.