“It’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while,” Vanessa says. If she was talking about anyone else, this is when Suhani would laugh and say, And this is what we therapists call confrontation!

“You’ve told me so many times how your mom has all these regrets about leaving her acting career, how she left her entire life for love. And you’ve always felt so much pressure to make sure all her sacrifices weren’t in vain.” Vanessa clasps her hands together. “I know you and Zack are always good at the core. . . . I’m just curious about whether getting married brought things up in you about your parents’ marriage.”

Before Suhani says anything, Vanessa adds, “And, look, we’ve all got stuff we bring to a relationship. I mean, hell, my dad left my mom when I was five and I can’t commit to a guy. It doesn’t take someone from our profession to see the link. But with Zack’s parents being divorced, too, I understand how getting married makes him want to build something of his own as a way to, you know, heal.”

“I’ve analyzed all of this a million times and never once connected everything together like that.” Suhani wishes she’d written down Vanessa’s words. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re a really good psychiatrist?”

Despite the lightheartedness of her words, Suhani knows that she’ll spend the rest of the day dissecting everything Vanessa said. But even though she’s right, Vanessa doesn’t know the other reason, maybe the biggest reason, why Suhani can’t even think about having kids.

She touches her phone as she pictures the text message from Roshan that she still hasn’t answered: I need to talk to you.

There’s a knock at her door by Marie, the front desk manager. “Dr. Joshi, I’m sorry to interrupt, but your patient is here. He’s having a crisis and needs to see you early.”

Marie’s permed hair and teal-blue eye shadow always remind Suhani of the mom character in a feel-good family show from the eighties.

“I’ll be right there.” Suhani nods as Vanessa leaves her office. Her next appointment is with Dean, a forty-year-old software engineer who has weekly panic attacks. She reviews the breathing exercises that have helped him in the past and double-checks his most recent Lexapro dose. Before she meets him in the waiting room, she scrolls through her last texts with Zack.

SUHANI: Can we talk about some stuff tonight?

ZACK: Of course. What stuff?