Chapter 7 - The Room of Mirrors
The therapist’s office was neutral, quiet, and uncomfortable.
Elena looked smaller. She was still dressed professionally, but the edges were frayed. She looked at me and didn't see the woman who wiped soup off Toby's sweater. She saw the woman who held the keys to their peace.
"I didn't mean it," Elena said.
I waited.
"I didn't mean to treat you like an employee," she continued, her voice trembling. "I was so overwhelmed. I felt like I was losing my grip on everything, and you were the only thing that felt... like an extension of the house. I stopped seeing you as a person and started seeing you as a solution to my problems."
"That was your choice, Elena," I said. "You didn't have to look at me that way."
"I know. And I’m sorry."
The therapist, a man named Dr. Aris, leaned forward. "Elena, why did you feel that you had to have control over everything?"
"Because if I didn't," she said, tears forming in her eyes, "I felt like I was failing. I wanted the perfect home, the perfect career, the perfect kids. And everything Marissa did that was different from my plan felt like an attack on my perfection."
I looked at Graham. He was watching Elena with a mix of pity and frustration.
"I’m not a target, Elena," I said. "And I’m not a piece of furniture you can rearrange. I am a mother, a grandmother, and a human being. My time is mine. My decisions are mine."
"I know that now," she whispered.
"The question isn't whether you know it now," I said. "The question is what happens when you’re stressed again? When the quarterly reviews get bad? When the kids get sick? Will I be the first thing you blame?"
She didn't answer.
"I won't be the safety valve for your stress anymore," I concluded. "If we are to have a relationship, it has to be based on mutual respect. You ask for help, you don't demand it. You accept that I am an independent adult."
May you like
"I can try," she said.
"That's all I ask."
