Suhani reaches for his hand. “When I met Zack, I think I didn’t feel like I deserved to be happy. I got scared. And I turned to the only thing that’s ever helped me avoid thinking: work. I’ve used work and accomplishments as an armor. I’d gotten way too good at keeping my guard up, holding everything inside, and it’s cost me a lot.”

Natasha feels something in her shift. It takes her several seconds to process that it’s the image she’s always had of her sister. Her beautiful, intelligent, accomplished sister has been carrying around pain for years.

“Zack?” Dr. Eze motions to him. “Thoughts?”

He’s leaning forward, his elbows propped on his slim thighs. It’s hard to tell whether he’s upset or just processing everything Suhani is saying.

“I’ve always known that about you,” he tells Suhani. “It often seemed like nothing was going to convince you that you deserved to be happy and successful.”

Suhani holds her face in her delicate hands. Her engagement ring winks when it catches the light. “I never felt like I deserved anything I got and I was convinced that at any second, it could all be taken away. I remember I used to even get mad when Mom would ask what you were eating when I worked late. I took it as her expecting me to be some traditional Indian wife, like she was for my dad, when really, she was just being caring.”

Anuj exchanges an uneasy glance with Natasha. Maybe all three of them inherited the seeds of their parents’ regrets, but they bloomed in each of them differently.

“I think you absorbing yourself in work and shutting down at home was really hard for me because it reminded me of my dad.” Zack’s knuckles are white as he grips his hair. “He used the hospital and alcohol to cope with his issues. And my mom and sisters would yell but I’d just go into my room and turn up the music. Withdraw.”

“So, you felt some of those scary feelings from childhood coming back?” Dr. Eze asks.

Zack nods.

“It’s okay.” Dr. Eze’s voice is gentle. “Sometimes marriage can do that, especially at the beginning. It can bring back memories from our own parents’ marriage and then we can replay out those dynamics from our childhoods because they helped us survive in the past.”

Zack slumps forward. Natasha’s never seen him like this, sad to the point of hopelessness. She wants to hug her brother-in-law and tell him everything will be okay, the way he’s done for her so many times. But she knows that even though they’re all here together, this is something he and Suhani need to navigate.