Fingernails bitten. Manicure chipped. Fallen behind in self-care?
Clothes are expensive,designer?
but wear and the way they sit scream that they’re from a while ago.
Did she have wealth and lose it?
Or a gift from someone who no longer likes spoiling her?
Shoes?
Expensive but scuffed visibly at the toe.
Purse has signs of wear.
Eyes: red, slightly puffy.Allergies, or cried within the last hour?
Occasional sniffle and slight smearing of makeup leans toward the latter.
All those details, combined with the growing bloom of darker and darker emotions wafting out of her, had me reaching a conclusion. I knew a broken heart when I saw one.
“How long have you been worried your partner has been cheating on you?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
The gasp the woman gave stroked my ego, but it was difficult to be too celebratory when I was interacting with a woman who had a very difficult decision coming up in her life.
“How did you know that?”
As much as I would have loved to tell her that I was just noticing the little things and seeing the emotions she was trying so desperately to keep contained within her, that would sort of be giving up the schtick, and without the schtick, I doubted people would come to see me and continue my mother’s legacy. After all, seeing a psychic was cool, while seeing someone who dealt exclusively with pesky fee-fees (come on, call it feelings.Fee-fees’s just disrespectful!)was something that insurance could cover—provided the therapist was within network, of course.
“Comes with the job,” I said, less flippantly than I normally would. Because hey, while I was neurodivergent, as the doc liked to say, I could still read the room. “What is it that makes you feel this way, but also makes you doubt yourself?”
“It’s… it’s silly, really.”
I set my palms on the table, affixing the woman with the most grown-up look I could muster. “None of that.”
“Pardon?”
“In this room, we do not dismiss ourselves, we do not push our instincts away. You feel what you feel for a reason, and even if your partner isn’t cheating, it is important to acknowledge why you have these anxieties.”
It was a bit strange to discuss this in my overly formal, performance voice, but I couldn’t really drop the act now. It would ruin the illusion and possibly ruin whatever revelation my client was about to have.
“Oh, well, uh… it’s a lot of little things. He always had a healthy sexual appetite before, but now, he barely even touches me. And suddenly, he keeps getting project after project at work, which requires him to stay late or travel. While that’s always been a part of the deal, it’s never been so frequent.
“At first, I told myself it was stress. He was gunning for a promotion and just spreading himself a little too thin. But a couple of weeks ago I got an email warning that one of the credit card companies we used had a major leak and we should change all our passwords. Normally he handles all the finances, but since he’s been so busy, I thought I would do it. When I logged on, I saw purchases from my favorite lingerie boutique and an expensive jeweler he used to take me to when we were young and newly in love.”
It took quite a bit of willpower not to grit my teeth and comfort her with an “oh, girl!” but somehow, I managed. Yet,as the woman kept talking, I became more convinced that my observations were exactly right.
Then again, when weren’t they?
“I got excited, thinking it was for my birthday. But then, when my birthday rolled around, he got me a gift card to the arcade the kids like to go to and a gym membership. I already have a gym membership.”
Oh dear.
“Thank you for acknowledging the instincts your ancestors have given you. Now that you have opened yourself to the truth, I shall attempt to commune with the fates again.”
Now I was in a moral quandary. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the woman’s husband was cheating. Between what she told me and everything else I’d observed about her, it was like a neon sign. But at the same time, I couldn’treallyknow for sure. While ADHD sometimes felt like a superpower and sometimes like a curse, in the grand scheme of things, it was neither.
So, what to do? Did I tell her to kick the cheating scumbag to the curb and risk being wrong, thus torpedoing a relationship that might be salvageable? Or did I cop out?