On the one hand, he liked she had done her homework and was paying enough attention to the session to benefit. On the other hand, he didn’t like they’d spent the entire car ride in silence, with Lucy not looking at him once. Even on their way up the stairs, she’d barely acknowledged him.
Their fight still lingered in his mind and made him feel unsteady.
“Thank you both for taking time out of your busy schedule to do your homework,” Dr. Singh said, glancing between them. “Since you’ve both done the love languages test, you’ll both be happy to know that your primary love language is the same, and it’sActs of Service.”
Ian cast a quick glance in Lucy’s direction, but she still refused to meet his gaze. “So, what does that mean? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s neither good nor bad, Ian. It’s a preference. Your love language is basically how you express to someone that you love them. The fact that the two of you have the same love language makes things easier.”
Ian swung his gaze back to the doctor’s and brought one leg up over the other. “Are you sure the results are right, Doc? No offense, but it feels like we’re not on the same page right now at all. It’s even worse than last time.”
Lucy frowned, and her eyes tightened. “That’s probably because you feel like you can do whatever you want without any regard for the consequences.”
Dr. Singh looked over at Lucy and motioned for her to continue. “And what makes you say that?”
Lucy leaned forward, her eyes flashing. “Yesterday, he volunteered to escort a prisoner to the police department a few towns over, keeping in mind that this prisoner is connected to his mom and his sister’s dad. And if that’s not bad enough, when gunshots were fired, he threw himself over the prisoner to keep him safe.”
Dr. Singh wrote something down and looked back at Ian, who had his hands clenched into fists at his side. “Ian, is there anything you want to say to Lucy in response? How does it make you feel to hear her say that?”
“I feel like she’s keeping some of the details to herself, and she’s failing to see the point ofwhyI did it.”
Dr. Singh leaned back in her seat and nodded in Ian’s direction.
“I volunteered because this guy—Jake—he’s providing us with important information about Lily’s dad. The guy is obsessed with us, and according to Jake, he wants to take usdown and make us pay for humiliating him, and I wanted to give us a leg up.”
He wasn’t going to apologize for pursuing every lead and knocking on every door. It wasn’t as if Lucy was just realizing that Ian’s job came with risks. They’d been married for over twenty years, and he couldn’t understand why it was suddenly an issue.
Why was she so fixated on all of the ways everything could go wrong?
“And do you feel like the best way to do that is to put yourself in harm’s way?”
Ian frowned. “I’m not trying to do it on purpose. I just reacted on instinct, and I knew it was my duty to protect him. That’s why we have police escorts.”
Dr. Singh wrote something else down and swung her gaze over to Lucy’s. “Does it make you feel better to know why Ian did what he did?”
Lucy shook her head. “No, because I alreadyknowwhy he did, but it doesn’t change the facts. He’s taking unnecessary risks and putting himself in harm’s way, and he’s not even consulting me anymore. It’s like I don’t exist.”
Ian twisted to face her. “That’s rich.I’macting likeyoudon’t exist? You’re the one who’s spent the past few months barely interacting with me. If it’s not the house or the kids, you don’t want to talk about it.”
Lucy shifted so she was looking at him directly, her face flush with color. “That’s not fair. You know I’ve been under a lot of stress at work.”
“I don’t actually know because you don’t tell me. You want to talk about communication and things we tell each other… How about that? How about telling me why you’ve been in such a bad mood? And why were you fighting with Maggie the other day?”
Lucy bristled. “Why are you spying on me?”
“I’m not spying on you—”
“Yes, you are. If everything doesn’t work out exactly the way you want it to, then you get all worked up—”
“Iget all worked up?You’rethe one who’s busting my chops for doing my job. As if you had no idea what the risks were. You knew exactly who you married.”
“And you knew exactly who you married.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Lucy folded her arms over her chest and gave him a cool look. “You know what I mean.”
“Okay, I’m going to jump in here and stop the two of you.” Dr. Singh turned to another page in her notebook, her gaze swinging back and forth between them like a pendulum. “I’m glad that we’re getting somewhere today and the two of you feel comfortable enough to open up, but unfortunately, our time is almost up.”
