Lacey stared at the woman who didn't look like she could hurt a fly but saw the quiet strength in her gaze. But she wasn't going to back down without a fight.
" So, tell me what we are doing here? We've wasted almost an hour staring at one another's faces. I have a lot to do in my office."
" Don't you think your marriage is more important than those fickle things?"
Lacey scoffed as she stared at the woman in shock" You say fickle? Fickle is when you don't have anyone to take care of and you earn peanuts. I earn a lot of money but who do I spend it on?" She gestured to Mark. " Him, a fucking grown up man who wants to sit here and make me feel like a bad person for calling the sham of the marriage quits. Who even gave you the audacity?" She asked him angrily.
" Will you be a bit calm, Mrs Lacey?"
Lacey swiveled and hit the table softly, " With all due respect Mrs Amber, I don't think I am cut out for this. All I ask is when we get here, please let's dive right into the issue of the day. Is that too much to ask?"
Mrs. Amber stared at her and wrote an observation on her note. " There's something that I want you to know, Mrs. Lacey. Sometimes you just need to keep an open mind to the things that happen." She said.
" Thanks but no thanks. Why is everyone trying to make him the victim while the roles are clearly reversed. If it were a lady who refused to work and decided to be spending her husband's money, what would you call her?" She asked her.
" Right... You already have a name for her. But now that I'm here trying to improve my life in quote, you are preaching endurance to me." She glared at her and inhaled a fitful of air. " I won't allow you to brainwash me even if everyone accepts to be." She said.
The woman stared at her yet didn't say a word and this got Lacey even more angry. So they were trying to make her feel like she was the odd one. " You know what? That's not even the annoying part, he still goes on to have an affair under my roof, in the store I got for him with my hard earned money, who does that?! Of course, an ungrateful husband who wants me to applaud his excesses." She spat.
Mrs. Amber continued to write and she didn't say anything, " Is that all, Mrs. Lacey or you'd like to say more?" She replied.
Lacey grew more angry, this woman was biased and she didn't think that this therapy would work because who sides with the opposite sex before hearing what she had to say.
Women were fond of this thing. " I ask, what do you say concerning my complaint?"
" Honestly? I think you are right to get angry."
Lacey scoffed at the woman sitting opposite her, it was obvious that she expected her to be a dutiful wife who makes sure that her husband receives all her money while she slaves her ass off.
" You surely do not mean that." She fired back.
Mark was silent throughout the conversation but he was glad to see her handling the issue correctly.
Mrs. Amber nodded while she continued penning things down. "Which might be justified, depending on how you look at it, now I'm not here to condemn nor applaud any party. I'm here to make sure that your marriage can be restored. At least we'd be able to say that we tried in making sure that everything went well. I would be very happy if it did and I'm sure you'd share my excitement if not yours greater?"
Lacey chuckled in disbelief. Of course that was what they'd think that she'd be that dumb to allow them sweet talk her into doing their bidding. " Mrs. Amber, you seem like a nice woman so I'd give you a piece of advice. Let this issue go and I'll pay you triple of whatever the court is paying." She proposed.
Mrs. Amber cocked her head to the side waiting for Lacey to say more words, " That would have been possible if I was only interested in your money but sadly, I'm not so it's practically useless. I do this for the love of it, not for what I can gain." She said.
She snorted, " I know you'd say this but I tell you that everyone has a price."
" Are you telling me that you'd go against your principles just because of a few dollars?" She flipped the question and Lacey went mute.
Mark watched in admiration as the therapist managed to handle his wife who he would have sworn would never be able to listen to anyone.
" Mrs. Lacey, I ask again, is it solely on the basis of his income that you're willing to dissolve the marriage?" She asked.
"Amongst other things." Lacey replied.
"I would appreciate it if you spelt them out so that we know exactly what to face."
Mark stared at his wife, waiting to hear the excuse she had lined up because he knew her very well before all of these issues, she was definitely going to cook up something to rope him so that she'd not seem like the bad person.
" He's lazy, unwilling to work. He's proud even as a waiter. Did you know that he almost cost me my job and I am just basically hanging on a thread at my workplace. If I return home, I wonder how he'd feed?" She glowered at him.
" But I hear that he has been banned from doing anything in that house.is that true?" Mrs. Amber replied.
" Who would want a liability for a husband? Of course I don't want to see him using anything in that house till he redeems himself. It's that simple." She replied without remorse.
" I have a solution for that... I don't know if you'd want to listen."