A couple in therapy

Tom and Diana Miller sat in their sedan parked outside the colonial brownstone in Society Hill as the rain drummed all around them. They never enjoyed the half-hour drive into Philly from Ardmore, and normally such a bleak and bleary day would only make things worse. Tom and Diana had moved out of the city so that Tom would be closer to his job at Cosgrove Strategies, a consulting firm with offices in the Pennsylvania suburb. At the time Diana hadn't minded giving up her job working in development at a non-profit, especially since she had been pregnant with their eldest, Toby, at the time. She was in love with her husband, and he made five times her salary. It had just seemed reasonable.

Now as a mother of two teens with no real job prospects of her own, there was a bitterness that had grown between them. There was still love, but it was harder and harder to focus on that as their little fights kept escalating. That's why they had started going Dr. Sophia Kahn. She was all the way out in the city, but everyone swore she was the best couples councilor in the area. But after two months of weekly visits Tom and Diana were still at each other's throats. Today things were finally going to change.

They only had five minutes before their session started, but Tom was **** to get out of the car, and not just because of the downpour.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" He said, his knuckles growing white as he unconsciously gripped the wheel tighter.

Tom was forty-year-old man with thinning salt-and-pepper hair and glasses. He was attractive, making sure to spend at least an hour or two at the gym five days every week. He thought Diana should be grateful, considering how important he thought looks were for a consultant, and as a husband. Diana would never admit to the benefits though. She was just pissed because she thought it was an excuse to saddle her with two children she had never really wanted. Maybe it had been her Catholic upbringing. She didn't consider herself religious, but she still didn't believe in divorce, and even though she believed in contraception she still had given birth to twice. She just always thought having kids was something adults did.

That was part of the reason why she was so eager to get on with this.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure! I've been sure for the last week. Haven't we gone over this enough yet? Do you actually listen to me or are you just being a huge pussy about all of this. Don't tell me you're getting cold feet." Diana said.

Diana was two-years younger than her husband, though her round face made her look younger, even when she was berating her husband. It wasn't usual for her to be this aggressive, but she was finally done caring. Not that she had cared about a lot. Diana had been a dutiful homemaker for the last sixteen years, and had a pear shape that she hated, even though Tom reassured her many times how much he thought big thighs were hot. She always compared herself with the other moms at school. Right now she was sporting her straight blonde hair in a trendily-short cut that hung just above her shoulders. Like everything in her life, it was designed to get her accepted without standing out.

It was only once she saw a way out of this life she had found herself in that she truly began to let out all the bitterness she'd kept inside.

"Fine. Forgive me for wanting your input on such a life-changing decision. You could be less rude you know." Tom said.

"Hey, who knows, maybe I will be once we get this shit over with." Diana said.

"So what would you like to talk about today?" Dr. Kahn said.

Diana sighed a bit as she looked at their therapist. She had always envied the woman's looks. It was part of the reason why she had always resented these sessions.

And it was a large reason why she had decided to go through with this insane plan.

Sophia Kahn didn't notice Diana ogling her as she brushed a strand of long black hair from her glasses. Even though the doctor tried to dress professionally, Diana practically licked her lips as she tried to figure out if her therapist's rack was a full DD. They had annoyed her when she and her husband started, but were two of Diana's favorite features about the woman. Diana wondered if it made her a bad person that she envied Dr. Kahn's flawless brown skin. Was she exoticizing the woman, or simply admiring her? Was she a bad feminist for objectifying this woman. Noting her statuesque legs, high cheekbones, thick eyebrows, long lashes, and breaking down the woman into a list of component parts, was the kind of thing she would have yelled at Tom for doing. Now though, it was strange those issues of morality bothered her more than the insanity of the plan itself.

Tom didn't wait for his wife to stop looking at their counselor like a piece of meat and reached a hand into the pocket of his jeans as he looked Dr. Kahn in the eyes and smiled.

"Well actually Dr. Kahn we wanted to try a little something different today." Tom said, concentrating on keeping his voice level.

Sophia Kahn arched an eyebrow. She was surprised to hear some actual engagement from this couple who seemed so adamant to stay in their toxic habits. So whatever it was, Sophia told herself to try and be supportive.

"It's something I read about!" Diana said blurting the words out with an unnatural speed and eagerness. Tom was scared for a moment, sure Dr. Kahn would realize that Diana had been rehearsing this.

Diana blushed.

Sophia just smiled and motioned for Diana to continue.

"Well," Diana said, adjust her posture as she sat up and tried to give a reassuring smile, "I was reading a post from this therapy influencer I follow about the power of Role Play. As you know one of my big issues with Thomas is that I don't think he's capable of listening to me when I speak, or telling me what he means. So I was wondering if maybe you and he could do a little role playing, maybe he could pretend you were me, and actually talk through his issues for once."

Sophia tightened her smile and unconsciously smoothed out an imagined wrinkle in her cream-colored sheath dress.

"Role playing can be very useful, but you know I have to be an impartial element of your marriage, I can't take sides, and am not here to prove who is right or wrong." Sophia said. She was starting to think Diana looked a little off today.

"I actually talked it over with my wife, and I trust you to be impartial. I know this is important to her, and I'm trying to support her ideas. If you don't think it's a good idea though, I'm okay to go back to the usual format Dr. Kahn." Tom said.

Diana had to give him credit. He knew exactly how to play to their therapist. Diana didn't think the woman could resist the temptation of seeing this usually intransigent couple agree on something. Dr. Kahn wouldn't risk undoing all of her work.

"Of course, there is a lot of research on the benefits of role playing for a couple's communication. If you both want to try this, we can. But if I agree to pretend to be Diana, then you two need to agree to trying other combinations. Maybe the two of you could pretend to be each other next, and hear the other one's side of the story." Sophia said.

Diana had to stifle a snort. That would be hilarious on a number of levels. None that the doctor would understand. Yet.

Tom had taken out the small stack of stickers and was writing on the first one. He and his wife hadn't tried to use them yet, and he was still dubious. But the fact that Dr. Kahn, didn't seem to notice he had taken out the bright red stack of paper was a good first sign. When he was done writing he ripped the sticker off with an overabundance of care. He could see Diana's impatience show in the tightness of her smile. The room was silent and he was already getting up out of his chair, and walking toward Dr. Kahn. He was sure she would freak out as he approached.

Sophia looked and noticed Tom walking toward her but quickly looked back to Diana. She was waiting for one of them to respond, assuming they were hemming and hawing over her terms. It didn't seem odd to her at all as Tom's had slowly moved to her chest and gently planted a sticker on the wool fabric of her designer dress.

Tom couldn't believe he had done it. He held his breath for a moment as his hand darted back, an excuse for his odd behavior already leaping to his tongue.

Until he realized he wouldn't need it.

Both his wife and his therapist were still silently sitting in their chairs. They both had glassy looks in their eyes.

It was just like Diana had said it would be. Somehow that made all of this stranger. Maybe that's why it took Tom so long to remember what he had to do next.

After waiting in the silent room for a few moments Tom looked at the dark-skinned woman with her form fitting cream-colored dress and immaculate hair sitting with her ankles crossed in a white leather armchair.

"What's you name?" Tom asked the woman in front of him.

At the sound of someone addressing her, the woman blinked, her body coming alive. She looked up at the man in front of her and smiled a pleasant grin at him.

"I guess I'm Diana Miller now!" she said, as her grin widened into the familiar smirk of Tom's wife.