The Marriage Counselor

6. If Only You Knew What A Distraction You Can Be

Samantha gingerly smiles. "No, I know that."

"So what is it?"

"It's... a lot of things," Samantha drops the ball to the ground with a sigh. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

Rebecca starts to gather their bags and makes her way over to Sam's side of the net. She places her hand on her friends back to guide her away from the tennis court. They decide to take a seat at a table on the patio. She searches her friends face with confusion. "I don't understand. I mean, I get some of it. But, I just hate seeing you so unhappy. What? Does he have some black mail on you or something? If it's nudes, don't let him hang that over your head. Everyone takes nudes-"

"No, it's not nudes," Sam can't help but laugh. Even in her darkest of times, her friend never fails to make her laugh or see some silver lining. "It's so many things, you know? Big and small. I mean, I'd have to get a job. And I'm totally fine with that. But I've got no prior experience, no references, no skills, and no college education." Her parents were adamant she not get a job while in school. They wanted her to focus on her studies. What do you need money for, her mom would ask. And then Cody came along and money was never an issue again. "Who's going to hire me?"

Rebecca hesitates. "I'm sure there'd be some kind of settlement. It's the Chambers family, for god's sake. I've seen Stephen write checks for college tuition just because he liked the way the caddy kept up with him for the day. And he adores you. If Cody refused to take care of you, Stephen would. I know it."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure Claire would let that happen. She already hates me enough. I can't imagine what she'd do or say if I'm the one to file for divorce," Sam frowns. Now that she's on the subject, all her worries seem to be screaming out at her. "I don't even think I have a credit score, Rebecca. Everything's in his name. It always has been. The house. The cars. The bank accounts. The credit cards. What if I have to get a loan or rent an apartment? What do they do if they can't pull up a score for me?"

"Take a deep breath." Rebecca says, lifting her hand to gesture to a staff member for drinks. They're going to need them at the rate this is going. "I really think you're just going worst case scenario right now. Okay?"

"He told me once he would sue me," Sam admits, starting to bite on her fingernails. She's been trying to break the habit. Ever since she started seeing Henry once a week, she's gotten better about it. But right now she can't help it. "Yeah. Cody was in Miami on that cruise, remember? He just kept calling and calling. I don't know why I even picked up. I knew he was drunk. He was saying all kinds of things but honestly, that's the only thing I took seriously. He said if I ever leave he would sue me."

Rebecca scoffs. "Are you kidding me? Sue you for what? That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know. It's America. You can sue anyone for anything, right? There's all kinds of reasons. Alimony. Child support. Someone cheats. Emotional distress. He can sue me for using his money during the marriage. I didn't believe that until I looked it up. It's been done before."

"Alright well you'll counter sue for cheating then! You'll definitely be like Bezos' wife. She's become, like, one of the richest people in the world. All she had to do was put up with the guy for a few years and catch him cheating."

"Yeah, well, with my luck, something would go wrong. He'd hire the best lawyers in New York." Samantha drops her arms on top of the table, covering her face with her hands. She's spiraling now. Her heart's beating so fast she feels like she's going to have a panic attack.

"Okay, okay, okay," Rebecca says, sensing the looming panic and wanting to stop it in its track. "We'll get it figured out. Let's change the subject. I want to talk about Dr. Dreamy pants."