‘I understand emotions are wrought,’ she said, putting the tray down on the coffee table between us, ‘but yelling at each other isn’t going to get you anywhere. Let’s all take a deep breath and try and have a rational conversation.’

Adrian picked up his mug and took a sip of his coffee. ‘Good idea.’

‘I want to talk about why Adrian broke our rules and slept with someone in our house,’ I said, my arms folded so tightly they could cut off my circulation.

Adrian put down his mug again and sighed loudly. ‘I don’t know why you’re getting so crazy. You knew I planned on sleeping with other women; it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I did.’

‘Everything about the last few months has been a surprise, but it’s not so much the fact you slept with someone but that you didn’t follow our nest-parenting agreement.’

Adrian opened his mouth, but Megan got in first. ‘Are you sure that’s the part you’re most upset about, Ashling? I imagine that knowing Adrian has been with another woman is fairly upsetting, no matter where it happened.’

I felt like someone had poked a pin into me—everything inside me deflated as I nodded. She was right. I wanted to ask him why I wasn’t enough, but I wasn’t sure I could handle the answer.

‘So,’ Megan said, her voice still annoyingly calm, ‘let’s try to talk about the root of the problem. Sex is clearly a contentious issue between both of you right now, but as I mentioned to Ashling, there has to have been other issues for you to get to this point. I want you both to try and respect each other as we go back a bit and talk about the early days of your marriage.’

‘Okay.’ We spoke in unison, both sounding like petulant children.

‘I want to get to know you both, find out who you are as individuals, but also the things that you like and dislike about each other. Adrian, how about you start? What first attracted you to Ashling?’

‘Um …’ He ran a hand through his hair and his forehead creased as if he was having to dig deep.

‘Is it really that hard a question?’ I asked, trying to hold on to my anger because right now it felt safer than the other emotions plaguing me.

‘Ashling, please let him answer,’ Megan reprimanded.

Adrian cleared his throat. ‘Well, she was smarter than a lot of the girls at school, but still … you know, attractive. I guess she also felt familiar—she already spent a lot of time at my house because she was friends with my sister. I liked that she was straightforward and not high maintenance like some other girls.’

‘Great.’ Megan smiled encouragingly at him.

‘She also had a wicked sense of humour.’