November 5, 2018

Chloe sat on the couch again with Doctor Bosworth sitting in the chair across from her finishing up a couple notes. Slowly, she was becoming more comfortable with both this room and the doctor psychoanalyzing her. She’d be lying if Chloe denied she’d been thinking about this all week. Not really the conversation itself, but more about just coming here. It was an hour or so of time to talk about what came to her mind.

The doctor flashed a smile, trying to be as cheerful as she could be. “How have things been this past week? Have you tried speaking with Nathaniel?” She asked.

“Yes and no,” Chloe said. “I read his texts, but I haven’t actually spoken to him. I asked for space; he’s complying.”

“Mm. Has he been wanting to get together to talk about what happened?”

Chloe shifted uncomfortably. “It doesn’t seem like it. He said he wants to talk about my father.”

Doctor Bosworth’s face contorted into confusion before flipping through her notes. “I don’t remember—”

“I haven’t talked about my father before. That’s…a whole other thing. We’ll get there.” Chloe smoothed her skirt.

“I see,” Doctor Bosworth scribbled a note. “So where were we, then?”

“Nathaniel told my mother about my engagement and she admitted to my face she didn’t want me. She moved out. I was in the process of moving out by getting rid of a lot of old crap.”

“Ah, yes. That rings a bell. And, if I’m not mistaken, also questioning your engagement.”

“Yes,” Chloe said. “That, too.”

“How often did you see David at that time?”

“I didn’t seem him for a really long time. We would talk on the phone every now and then, but he wasn’t around otherwise. Our schedules didn’t really allow that. We were both taking classes, he also worked, and I was looking for a job myself. I think it was something like a whole month before we actually saw each other again.”

Doctor Bosworth snapped her finger. “I remember what I wanted to ask you before: did you and David ever talk about moving in together?”

“No, we didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t want to. I don’t really know why, but I didn’t.”

“Did you ever feel like the relationship was moving too fast?” Doctor Bosworth asked.

“Not at all. If anything we were moving slow. It took nearly a year to decide to sleep together. I guess…if anything…I know I was really nervous about everything. My mom was my role model for relationships. And every one ended in screaming matches. Even Nathaniel and my mom would get into these really intense fights that lasted for days. I know there was a day I told David that I was scared that was how relationships worked. And if it was, I didn’t want it.”

“That’s perfectly reasonable for anyone. Even more so in your situation.”

“David and I are both very laid back people. We never saw the urgency in life. The sort of attitude that says, ‘no rush about doing this now when we can do it later.’ You know? But it’s not the best way to handle things, I’ll admit. When we would talk on the phone about the wedding, it was never about actually planning it; we talked about actually being engaged,” Chloe chuckled.

“And there’s nothing innately wrong with that, Chloe. Many couples do that, too. When I got engaged we didn’t plan anything for six months. We were just excited. My sister, on the other hand, had her wedding planned within six months of getting engaged.”

Chloe was astonished. Her mouth hung open for a moment before she composed herself. “That’s incredible. But I guess it only took Nathaniel and Mom about four months to plan theirs, but it was at the courthouse, so…not quite the same thing.”

“Not quite,” Doctor Bosworth chuckled. “At what point did you and David break up?”

“September.” Chloe let out a breath. “Though, honestly, the months kinda blended together. There was a lot going on at the time, so it could have been earlier than that…”

“Where would you like to start?”

Chloe thought for a moment. “I think we need to start at the week I moved into my new apartment because that was the week that started ruining all of my relationships.”