“Are you saying you only got back together because of Angie?”

“Not this time but we did the first time or at least she was the reason we even reconnected after the breakup. Tina was with Helena. She didn’t want anything to do with me until she found out she was pregnant but even though she acknowledged me as Angie’s mother she had no intention of rekindling our relationship outside of being co-parents. I wanted our baby. I was happy to settle for co-parenting until she said she wanted to move back home and be a family. You were there. You know how it got between us. We didn’t last six months because we never dealt with the things that drove us apart in the first place. We just repeated the same behaviors to our detriment.”

“But it’s different now isn’t it?”

“It’s definitely different now. We’ve already dealt with a lot of those issues. We’re making a conscious effort to have an open healthy relationship which is why I wanted to talk to you. I want to deal with these feelings before they get out of hand and so I can talk to Tina in a way that won’t sound accusatory or belittling.”

“What are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling some of the same insecurities about our relationship now as I did back then. We didn’t handle change very well. I don’t know that we’re prepared to handle it any better now. We’re about to embark on this really major thing Emma. I don’t want to risk what we’ve managed to build over the past few months. I still fear losing Tina. I’m so vulnerable to her. She holds all the cards in the relationship. I want to own a gallery again but it’s going to require so much to make it happen. I don’t know if we are strong enough as a couple to survive what all it might entail. I fear failing her but what I fear more is that she won’t tell me that I’m failing her.”

“That’s what happened before? She didn’t voice her feelings to you?”

“She was non-confrontational. I know I can be a bully sometimes when I set my mind to something. I think she went along with me on a lot of things she wasn’t in total agreement with just to avoid an argument. I’m not looking to have arguments or even win them. I just want to do this thing right. If we weren’t together as a couple I would have no reservations about charging full speed ahead but now I’m having to give pause just to make sure she’s with me all the way.”