Part Five 

5pm Tuesday, like clockwork Cane knocks. When he hears the ‘come in’ he opens the door to his therapists office.

“Mr. Ashby, come in.” 

And every week he corrects her, “Cane please.”

She smiles pleasantly before replying, “Of course, please have a seat Cane.”

He’s come to realize she does this to put him at ease at the start of each session thankfully it does help.

Sitting her tablet on her lap ready to take notes she asks, “and how is Sam doing these days?”

Cane settles himself on to the couch across from her. “Well he spiked a fever a couple of days ago. It scared me after what he’s already been through but luckily the nurses were able to get it under control with some medication. Lily came to help and she really came through in a big way, don’t know what I would have done without her.”

“I’m so glad that Sam is doing better.”

“Yes the doctor told me this morning that if things continue to improve he can go home by Christmas Eve.”

“That’s wonderful news.” Her therapy hat always on she asks, “So you mentioned that Lily came to help when Sam had the fever? How did that come about?”

“Well Sam he was crying and neither the nurse or myself could get him to settle down...then a memory popped into my head when Lily was the only one who could calm the twins when they were sick and I just found myself calling her and asking for something I probably had no right to ask but I did and she came. It was the middle of the night and she came to the hospital without hesitation. It meant so much to me that she did that.”

“Well from what you’ve told me and the one session we had together, Lily seems like a very kind and compassionate person who would be there for others.” She types a note on her tablet.

“And you don’t think I should read too much into it because of that.”

“Now Cane I might be inclined to say that that’s projection as it was not what I said but if you want to tell me how you feel about her being there...”

“How did I feel about her being there? It felt right, like it was supposed to be. It gave me hope, I can’t deny that it was...it was more than I could ask for.”

“Did something else happen besides her being there to help Sam...did something happen between the two of you?”

“We talked some and I told her about our sessions.”

“And?”

“She said it was a start. Also we’ve kissed...a couple of times now.”

Another note is made. “Rekindling physical intimacy is a big step for both of you.”

“Every time we are in a room together it’s a struggle not to reach out for her not to show her how much I love her...”

“You have told me in the past that your physical relationship was a very important part of your lives.”

“What can I say, I’m not one to talk overly much about my feelings...”

“Which is something we are working on..”

“But...”

“But..?”

“I could tell her so much with a single touch..a single kiss..that I didn’t need to say anything! And it’s been so long since we’ve....and she’s let me kiss her and those kisses are so all consuming and they say so much..so much more than I can put into words...l...”

“Cane..,” concerned warning in her voice.

“Doc, she shut that door firmly in my face months ago but lately I feel like she has cracked a window and is starting to let me in...”

“You can’t force that. If she’s cracked a window as you’ve said, that’s great that’s progress but if you try to force that window wide open it could backfire on you.”

Cane, getting a little agitated gets up to pace luckily the space in her office allows for that. “It’s just different this time, I know it!”

She watches him for a moment and makes another note before speaking, “Cane.....just because Juliet is gone doesn’t make what happened cease to exist.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Every morning that I wake up in bed alone it hits me all over again what I did and every morning the anger over my inability to remember what happened after I left that restaurant that night is like a knife to my gut. Every week we circle around to this and nothing changes. I can’t remember nor can I accept that I actually cheated on my wife...”

“Yet here Sam is...”

“Yup there he is,” stoping his pacing he moves back to the couch. “To see Lily with him...he should be hers. He feels like hers...like ours Doc.”

She folded her hands over her tablet. “But saying that doesn’t make it so...”

“I know Doc, god do I know...”

Checking the time, she realizes this weeks session is almost up. “Cane if I may while I want to continue with your solo sessions if you ever want to make an appointment for a session for you and Lily to try together again, I would happily see you both.”

“After the last time I can’t make any promises but I will definitely mention it to her.”

Not wanting to press she left that option with a response of, “you do that.”

They both get up at the same time and she shows Cane to the door. “Oh I forgot to ask, did you finish packing up Juliet’s belongings? I know it was a task you were struggling with a bit.”

Canes hand on the door knob, he looks slightly back over his shoulder at her. “Yeah, the charity came yesterday morning to pick up the boxes for donation and I put some of Juliet’s personal belongings away for Sam. There wasn’t much of those though. Oh and I still have a box of papers and files to go through but I figure that’s just some old stuff from work and I would get to it later.”

“Well perhaps going through it sooner rather than later will help.” She gives him a professional smile and continues, “I would say same time next week but that’s Christmas Eve and I think both you and I have other more important things to be a part of. So I will say merry Christmas and we will pick things up again in the new year.”

“Merry Christmas Doc.” Cane opens the door and steps out into the hall...