Rum and Coke

Brian sat down next to his wife on Dr. Tyson’s couch. He stared intently at the doctor as Mich grabbed Brian’s hands. Brian looked at her tear-ridden face, knowing full well that some of those were staged. He gave her a small smile before returning his gaze back to Dr. Tyson.

“So, do you have an idea of why my wife is this crazy?” He asked with humor in his voice.

Mich let out a large sob before quickly leaving the room. Fuck, if I can’t even joke around, then something is seriously fucked up, Brian thought to himself.

“Mr. Haner, it is completely obvious that your wife is having a mid-life crisis. On top of that, it looks as if she is experiencing early forms of Empty Nest Syndrome…but that’s only a theory at this point.”

Brian covered his face in his hands and rubbed his temples. He thought of all the things that he had missed. “So, what are we talking about? Weekly sessions?”

“I’m afraid this is one of the things that I’m not qualified to deal with. Now, I can give you the numbers to a few life coaches, but your wife doesn’t seem like the type of person who would respond to them.”

“Yea, Michelle’s a stubborn one.”

“Marriage counseling is another option.”

“What? Are you telling me that I’m not a good husband or something?! I give her everything she could possibly want or need!”

“I’m not saying that, Mr. Haner,” he said calmly. “What I am saying is that your marriage is hanging by a thread. When was the last time that you two spent time together that did not end in you fighting?”

Nothing came to Brian’s mind.

“That’s what I thought. Your wife is in a vulnerable place right now. I need you to be able to talk to her without getting her riled up. Now, I can recommend several counselors-”

“I’m touring in a month.”

“Yes, she mentioned that, too. A year, is it?”

“No, it’s only for two months. We’re staying in the states.”

“Oh, ok.” He quickly wrote something down and looked back at Brian. “Well, here’s a few numbers.” He replied, giving the other man a half sheet of paper with phone numbers scrawled across it.

“I don’t need these.”

“If you want to salvage what’s left of your marriage, I’d suggest you take them.”

Grumbling, Brian took the sheet of paper and stuffed it in his pocket before walking out of the office. He instantly found Michelle sitting in a chair in the waiting room and sobbing her heart out. Brian’s heart almost broke at the sight of her. He walked over and knelt down in front of her. “Mich, look at me, Honey.”

When she raised her head, Brian quickly took in the sight of her red puffy eyes and running mascara. “What do you want?” she croaked out.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier. It was out of line and I didn’t mean it.”

She sniffed once before looking away.

Sighing, he crawled in between her legs and guided her head to face him. “He gave me some names of some counselors, and, well, I guess I’m trying to say that I’m game for anything right now. Nothing matters more to me than you and our family. I’m willing to do anything to get our marriage back together, but I have to know if you’re going to be fighting with me instead of against me.”

“I’m with you.”

“Good, now let’s go home and get things straightened out. Bri’s spending the night at Matt’s.”

She nodded and accepted Brian’s hand before he led her out the door.

~*~

Matt cursed under my breath as Little Brian stormed back up the stairs. Matt swore that Bri had inherited his father’s short fuse and anger issues. Matt turned back to the computer screen and saved all the progress that he made on the track before he pulled out his cell phone.

“What do you want?” came Brian’s gruff voice. Matt could instantly tell that he was annoyed and what Matt had to tell him would most likely send him off the deep end. Oh, well, Mich will just have to deal with it, Matt thought caustically to himself.

“Your son just yelled at me.”

“Um, ok? That’s nothing new… what was he yelling about?” Brian asked, aggravation in his voice.

“Well, first it was because he thought you and Mich were kicking him out to fuck-”

“We would never do that to him. He knows that.”

“Let me finish, dammit! Then he got it into his head that you were cheating on Mich…again, but he didn’t know about that first time…Shit, I’m not on speakerphone, am I?”

“Nah, you’re not. But anyways, how did it get into his head that I was cheating? I don’t even have time for myself anymore!”

“Well, New York was brought up.”

“And I was with your daughter the entire time. Listen, I gotta save my marriage right now. I’ll talk to him when we go over there tomorrow. We are still on for the barbeque, right?”

“Yea, I’ll see you then.” Matt replied, hanging up the phone before he could say anything else. “Man, and I thought dealing with teenage girls was supposed to be harder than dealing with boys!” Matt mumbled under his breath as he made his way up the stairs and into the main level of the house.