Page 86 of The Exception

Having a mental health background was weird in relationships. Emma was always lamenting the same when it came to her and Adam. Being a family therapist, Emma was constantly assessing her own marriage and parenting choices by her clinical expertise. Sonya knew from watching this play out over years of friendship, that it was exhausting and confusing.

Sonya’s brain quietly and calmly told her that Trav’s behavior was a classic defense mechanism brought on by feelings of unworthiness stemming from his childhood.

But that achy feeling in her chest screamed: Screw him for resorting to being a cocky ass because his feelings were hurt.

She needed to talk this out. Calling in another mental health professional wasn’t going to be helpful, so Emma was out. She was pretty sure Cat and Josh hadn’t had an actual fight since they got married, so as much as Cat gave great advice, this wasn’t her forte.

Dani, on the other hand…

She left the car in park and hit a video call, hoping she would catch Dani at the office instead of at Dylan’s house.

As soon as the call connected, Sonya recognized the panoramic view of the city through the window behind Dani’s desk. She was in luck. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I need advice.”

“Getting right to the point.” Dani laughed and pulled her Prada reading glasses off of her nose. “Sounds like an emergency.”

“Not like a Code Red emergency, but maybe.”

Dani pushed her laptop to the side and propped her phone on her desk. “Let me hear it.”

“You and Dylan, y’all… fight sometimes, right?” She wasn’t sure why she was beating around the bush. She’d called Dani for a reason. “More than sometimes. You two argue a lot.”

“Okay, wow.”

“Wait. That came out wrong.” Apparently that was the theme of the day. “I just want to know how that works, I mean, how you get over it.”

Dani bounced her eyebrows. “Makeup sex, obviously.”

Sonya couldn’t help the eye roll. “Are you serious?”

“Kind of. Dylan drives me crazy in a good way as much as in a bad way.”

“So it’s not an issue, the two of you spending so much time irritated at each other?”

Dani’s face turned serious and she leaned back in her chair. “This is about Trav. Did you have a fight?”

Sonya nodded. “I think so.”

“Was he a dick or something?”

She considered it, then shook her head. “That’s too harsh, but he wasn’t his charming self. It’s just that Marcus and I, we didn’t fight.”

Even if she was angry at Marcus over something, by the time she eventually saw him again, she’d had weeks to cool off. It was very convenient in hindsight.

Still, even the few times she could remember disagreeing with Marcus, it hadn’t felt likethat. Her stomach was in knots and the dull ache in her chest wouldn’t subside.

Dani laughed. “That’s because you never saw each other.”

“That’s the truth. But isn’t it a sign that Trav and I have only been doing this for a few weeks and we’ve already had an argument?”

“Um, Dylan and I had about seven-hundred arguments before we even started dating.”

“And that doesn’t worry you?”

Dani shrugged. “Not really. Tell me what the fight was about.”

“He broke our rule… about touching. In the breakroom. He kissed me and I might have overreacted.”

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