She knew she looked terrible, but having him confirm it made her feel that much worse. “That bad, huh?” She felt a lone tear leak out and wiped it from beneath her eye.

“No, your eyes just aren’t as bright as normal.” He held out a box of tissues.

“Thank you. I slept more last night. Every night seems a little better.” She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue. “The first few nights, the uncertainty brought on these dreams that I’ve had since I was a teenager when I’m apart from Phil. I think I was trying to convince myself I didn’t need him—that I could live without him. And that made me feel unsafe.”

“You don’t believe you could live without him?”

“I don’t want to,” she admitted. “I kicked him out of my room and lasted all of three hours. I realized that by trying to punish him, I was also punishing myself. It hurts enough as it is. I don’t want to add to it by pretending I can live without him.”

He shifted in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “You could live without him.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t. I mean, if something happened to him and I was forced to, yes, but knowing he was out there with a separate life, living apart from me, no.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he was opening the folder in his lap. “Let’s talk about Katie.”

“What did I say? Why are you suddenly annoyed at me?”

“I’m not annoyed at you.” He met her eyes. “My specialty is adolescents, so I am the wrong person to be counseling you, but dependency of any type—and that’s what you’re describing to me when you talk about your husband—is unhealthy. Two independent adults coming together—that’s the foundation for a healthy relationship.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I think I do, but I’m Katie’s psychiatrist. I need to keep these sessions focused on Katie. If you would like the name of—”

“No!” Her face heated. “I don’t want a counselor. I’m sorry. This is my fault. I started to think of you as a friend. Let’s talk about Katie.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I’m the professional. I let us take a slight detour, and now we’ll get things back on track, okay?” He raised his eyebrows.

She hated the coolness he was suddenly projecting but knew he was right. She was starting to treat him like her therapist. “Yes.”

“We are at the point in Katie’s therapy where I believe it would be beneficial for me to meet with her father.”

“Why?” Her mind was swimming. If Phil found out he knew about the—

“Lina.” He waited until she looked at him before continuing. “I need to talk to him about Katie, nothing more.”

Even with Dr. Drayton’s assurances they would only discuss Katie, Lina still felt nervous as she awaited Phil’s return from his appointment the following Wednesday evening.