Page 68 of First Date: Divorce
In keeping with their roles, K.D.muttered that he couldn’t have looked very hard, since he didn’t find her.
Izzy and Orion shared a look.“Come join us,” Izzy invited.
She accepted the offer.They were pleasant, but more important, they could be good sources of information.
Between easily answering their questions thanks to Pauline’s drilling, she picked up a few more tidbits about the routine at Marriage-Save, including that everyone — professionals, support staff, and guests had considerable interactions with the people of Bardville.Easy enough for any of them to relay information to Gail Bledsoe.
K.D.headed toward their counseling appointment without eliminating anyone.
Eric arrived from the other direction as the door opened, leaving no time to find out what he’d been doing.
*
Melody greeted them with a smile.
She asked general questions about how they found the accommodations and they gave general answers.
“I want to check in with the two of you for a moment to see if anything came up from yesterday’s session.No?”she added to their twin headshakes.“Okay, then I’ll speak with each of you separately while the other answers questions on this assessment.K.D., you stay here with me.And Eric, you can use the room just outside that door for the assessment.”
Melody took her over a number of topics, all of which Pauline had covered.Melody was an easier questioner.It was satisfying to field the questions and build their cover.
Even when Melody asked about K.D.’s childhood.
“You were raised by a single mother you said.Tell me about that.”
Not her favorite topic, but she had experience telling people enough to satisfy them.Job interviews, well-intentioned co-workers, even not-so-well intentioned people.
She told the outlines of how hard her mother worked to raise her, how she’d supported both of them, while never giving up the dream of Mr.Right rescuing her.She stuck with her mother’s background in Mississippi, but had her move to Chicago instead of Montana when her family turned their backs on her and her unwed pregnancy.K.D.finished with a quick gloss over her mother’s marriage, without including what she thought of it.
She did all that almost automatically, while another part of her concluded she wouldn’t need to devote a lot of mental power to these counseling sessions.Good.More for the investigative aspect.
Until …
The first mini stumble came when Melody asked, “When you and Eric first were intimate, how were sexual relations between you?”
They’d known there would be questions about their sex lives.They were supposed to be a married couple, after all.They’d agreed to say they hadn’t been intimate since theirproblemsstarted.And since that was shortly after the honeymoon ended, they’d figured that covered most of it.
But Melody wanted to hear about the supposed start of their relationship.
“Fine.Good.”The sensations of Eric kissing her the second time for the wedding video recreated themselves.“Very good.”She caught herself and added, “Before we got married.”
“Did sex between you change after marriage?”
“Some,” she said cautiously.Thank heavens Pauline hadn’t brought this up.The idea of sorting out details of their mythical sexual history in front of the older woman pushed her imagination to the brink.
Besides, there had to be a number of people going through Marriage-Save reluctant to talk about sex.She’d be one of them.
Only Melody didn’t leave it at that.“In what way?”
“More routine.”That had to be a safe answer.She added, as if presenting a new concept, “Less variety.”
“You and Eric were more adventuresome before marriage?”
“I guess.”
“Why do you think that is?”
She couldn’t blame kids and the time they demanded.Money troubles didn’t fit their scenario.Those were the two biggies according to the research Pauline shared with them.
