***Photo by Gerson Repreza on Unsplash***

Los Angeles

Adrienne looked out the window of her office, watching as two hummingbirds flitted around a feeder hanging from a tree. On any other day, the sunshine and clear blue sky would mean she was busy, typing away or being extremely productive in some way or another. But today she couldn't seem to focus herself. She'd been staring at the same screen on her computer for the last ten minutes, procrastinating.

A knock on her office door pulled her away from the window. She swiveled in her chair to face her desk. "Yeah?" she asked, looking at the door expectantly.

Hayley appeared with an armload of paperwork. "Hey," she started, leaning against the door. "Do you have the audition sides for 'Heart-Shaped Box'? Kazan told me you were reviewing them before sending them over to CAA."

Adrienne blinked and shuffled things around on her desk. There seemed to be two or three inches of paperwork underneath her laptop. Eventually she found the packet of audition sides and flipped through it. Several annotations in red ink were scribbled across the pages in her own hand.

"Yeah," she held the packet out. "I made some edits so they'll need to be retyped. But it reflects the changes in the script."

"Why didn't you let Sanaa handle that?" Hayley asked, stepping forward and taking the pages from her.

"I just thought it would cut out a lot of back and forth if I did it myself," Adrienne replied.

In recent weeks since Vishan revealed Jared had taken a step back, she'd been trying to distract herself from processing those feelings. It was easier to throw herself into work than to focus on the gaping wound he'd left in her heart. And navigating her relationship with Vishan hadn't been any easier without Jared in it. When you'd only ever known your marriage to have three people in it, it was hard to adjust to only two.

"Right, but she's the director," Hayley said, crossing her arms. "Isn't it her job to decide what sides the actors audition with?"

"Its my script, Hayley," Adrienne said firmly. "My idea. My property. My production company. If I want to change something, I can change it whenever the hell I want."

Hayley took a step back as if she'd been slapped. "Are you fucking PMSing or something? Because there's no need to be such a fucking bitch to me, Adie."

Adrienne sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I'm just stressed. I'm sorry." She closed her laptop and surveyed the thick layer of paperwork she'd been ignoring. "I've got so much shit to sort through. Plus editing 'Desert Child'. And shit at home. Its just... a lot. Sorry," she apologized again.

"Should we hire someone else?" Hayley asked, a look of concern on her face.

Adrienne sighed. "No. I've been procrastinating work as much as I've been taking it on. I'll get it done." Her phone chimed and she looked at the screen.

4:00pm Therapy.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath. "I've got an hour to get over to Santa Clarita."

She stood and began gathering her things and throwing them into her purse.

"Santa Clarita? Why in fuck's name do you need to go there?" Hayley asked, watching her friend.

"Its a secret," Adrienne replied, walking around her desk and grabbing her coat from the rack near the door.

"Oh my God, are you and Vishan having a baby?" Hayley asked, following Adrienne out of her office.

"No," Adrienne replied, walking down the hallway. "Its...personal." She pushed past her friend to the receptionist's desk. "Look, I've got to go. I should be back by seven-thirty. I'll be in the editing suite with Carlo all night. If Sanaa has any issues with the sides, have her call me."

With that, she left, heading for the garage. Roger, her security guard, was waiting in a black Escalade. She froze, wondering how he knew to be there.

"Roger - hey," she said, opening the back door. "How did you know to be here?"

"Vishan sent me," Roger explained. "He said you'd need a ride to an appointment or something."

Adrienne wasn't sure how she felt about Vishan's move. On one hand, it could be seen as sweet that he sent a car to prevent her from being late or needing to navigate the chaos of Los Angeles traffic. On the other hand, it was almost a move of control, to ensure she arrived on time and couldn't skip out. Therapy had been his idea and to say she was reluctant to participate was an understatement. She settled on the former because she didn't want to add to the frustration and stress she was under already. Even if it was the latter, it was easier to just nod and accept it.

When they pulled up to the nondescript building in a well-manicured medical office park, she saw Vishan's car already parked with Michael sitting inside. Roger parked in the space next it and helped her out of the car. Vishan had chosen this doctor because it was well-outside of the normal scope of paparazzi and fans. The last thing Rai Industries needed was for investors to think its CEO was attending therapy for anything.

She walked into the building while Roger and Michael shared a cigarette, leaning on the hood of one of the SUVs. The elevator ride up to the fifth floor was longer than she would have liked. She checked her phone, reading emails while she waited. When the doors slid open with a ding, she stepped off and walked down the hall to number 5B and rang the door bell. A soft click allowed her to open the door and slip inside.

Dr. Giselle Crenshaw's office was normally closed on Friday afternoons, but for Vishan she made an exception. The blinds were down, filtering the sunlight in the empty waiting room and the receptionist' alcove was complete dark. A door was open to the left of it and Adrienne walked inside, shutting it behind her. Vishan was sitting on a sofa in front of a large picture window, legs crossed. He nodded to her when she walked in. Dr. Crenshaw was perched on the edge of an overstuffed arm chair opposite him, with a clipboard.

"Adrienne," she said by way of greeting.

Adrienne settled herself next to Vishan and put her bag on the floor. "Have you been here long?" she asked him.

"Only a few minutes," he replied.

He looked every bit the Silicon Valley businessman, with tailored jeans and a navy blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up 3/4 of the way. He'd paired the outfit with a white boat shoe.

"Now, we left off last week with my giving you some intimacy homework," Dr. Crenshaw said. "How did you get on with it?"

The homework had been focused on the two of them being more present. Of course given their careers, it was basically useless. They were supposed to turn off devices and focus only on each other for an hour. It was fine...until they turned their devices on and saw how much they missed in a single hour. The result had been both of them sleeping in separate rooms because they'd been up into the early hours working.

Vishan opened his mouth to respond, but Adrienne spoke first. "It was nice to have the time, but it didn't really change anything between us. We just had more work to catch up on when the exercise was over."

Dr. Crenshaw nodded, making a note. "And Vishan, how did you feel?"

Vishan took a deep breath. "Like Adrienne said - it was nice to have the time, but we just had more work to do when it was over."

"Do either of you ever feel like your marriage is suffering due to your external commitments - jobs, family, friends, et cetera?" she asked. 

"Sometimes," Adrienne offered. "Sometimes I feel like I am a secondary priority for him."

Vishan tensed next to her, biting his tongue. 

"Vishan, do you want to respond to that?" Dr. Crenshaw asked, sitting back in her chair and crossing her legs.

"Adrienne knows how busy I am - it has been this way for most of our relationship," he explained. "She knows I have to make sacrifices to  keep my business successful. Its no secret. And its not like I'm doing these things because I want to hurt her or anything like that...its just...how things have to be."

"But can't you see how that might make Adrienne feel, Vishan?" Crenshaw started, fixing the glasses on her nose. "She has always been a secondary priority for you, it seems."

"I work an extremely stressful job. I manage billions of dollars on a global scale," Vishan said. "If I fuck it up, I'm on the hook for it and I get screwed over. Its not like I'm just a workaholic."

"But why marry me if you're just going to spend all your time buried in work?" Adrienne asked, turning to face him. "I saw you for maybe a week after we got back from our honeymoon. If it wasn't for Jared, sometimes I think we'd hardly ever see each other at all." Adrienne caught the grimace on Vishan's face. "I'm starting to think that Jared was the only thing keeping us together."

"That's not true," he protested. "I want t be together with you."

"Then why haven't you touched me in the month since he left? I thought he left because he wanted to give us our best chance as a couple. But here you are, burying yourself in work and flying off to different meetings every day. How are we supposed to reconnect if you're never there to connect with?" she demanded. 

The weight of Jared's absence hung in the air between them like a fog. Dr. Crenshaw spoke. 

"Have you two ever considered that both of you are grieving the exit of Jared from your relationship?" she asked. "That diving into work is your way of coping and ignoring your feelings? Even though it wasn't an official or conventional relationship, you sustained it for quite some time. And you had some very intimate moments that would have created extreme bonds between you."

"So, you're saying we're both grieving because of a break up?" Vishan asked, disbelief clouding his voice. 

"Yes," Dr. Crenshaw said simply. 

"We just had threesomes," he countered. "We weren't in a formal relationship."

"No, but you had some extreme experiences together," she explained. "When we have sex, a large amount of chemicals are released into our bodies, which tell us that it was a pleasurable experience. This is what binds us to our partners. This is what gives us the happy feeling and the feelings of love with one another. Its what bonds us with our partner. You had a sexual relationship with Jared for quite some time. You bonded with him. Of course his departure has created cause for grief."

Vishan blinked rapidly. Adrienne could tell he was fighting tears. "So how do we get past it?" she asked softly. 

"You two need to learn how to be alone together again - just you two," Crenshaw said. "Alternatively, you can decide that Jared is the person you want to be with and you can choose to pursue a relationship with him that suits all three of you."

"How do you have a relationship with two different people?" Vishan asked. 

"Romantic relationships are not cut-and-dry, Vishan," Dr. Crenshaw explained. "There are many different types of relationships and there is no one way for a relationship to be successful. The beauty of our existence is that each person is unique and no relationship is exactly like another. You create the terms for your relationships - personal and professional. There is no rule saying you cannot be in a healthy, happy romantic relationship with two people at the same time. The issue is consent and communication. Everyone needs to be on the same page. If you can manage that, then it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."

They left their session half an hour later, returning to their separate cars. Adrienne instructed Roger to drive her to the editing suite, where she met up with Charles and dug in for the night. She watched hours of footage, but the only thing she kept replaying in her mind were Dr. Crenshaw's words. 

You make the terms of your relationships. Everyone needs to be on the same page.

She wasn't sure exactly what that meant for her and Vishan, but she knew one thing: it meant that Jared didn't have to stay away if he didn't want to.