Falling for Him 4 (Rachel and Peter in Love) by Jessica Gray Page A

“I really like you. A lot. That incident at the pool was awesome. But, I need to focus on getting my own life back together right now. I agree, we shouldn’t see each other outside of our therapy sessions. Our morning session. Because I decided to give the group session in the afternoon a try.”
    David nodded his head, “That probably is for the best. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to see you making those kind of decisions for yourself. Lara, you are making progress.”
    Lara nodded, pleased with his praise. “I wasn’t in a good shape while you were gone. I need you. As doctor, and as a friend.”
    “ Ok. Let’s get to work. You look like you have something on your mind. Is there something specific you want to try and deal with today?”
    Lara looked down at her lap and nodded. She had come so far, with recognizing her own failures and character defects, but before she could go any farther, she needed to get this one thing out of her way. The guilt was eating her alive!
    Her voice cracked “I’ve done some things I’m very ashamed of.”
    David nodded reassuringly, “We all have. The best way to deal with those things when they come up is to meet them head on, see them for what they were, and then figure out a way to rid yourself of the guilt and move forward.”
    Lara wanted to run away and instinctively ducked even more, scanning the floor, unable to meet David’s eyes. This was her darkest secret, the one that kept her up at night, consumed with guilt and shame. How on earth would she be able verbalize what she’d done? It was horrible!
    David watched her struggle, and after several minutes, suggested, “Why don’t you tell me what happened and then we’ll look at it piece by piece together?”
    Lara finally looked at him and whispered, “It’s really bad! I mean, I think about it and can’t believe that was me!”
    David was slightly concerned, not having seen her this upset about any other aspect of her life so far. “Go ahead and tell me. Remember, there’s no judgment here, and everything you say in this room is confidential.”
    Lara nodded and took a deep breath before she began. “Remember I told you about my last boyfriend, Peter?”
    David nodded, settling back in his chair for what he assumed was going to be a lengthy story. “Go on.”
    “After we broke up, he started seeing this really nice girl…”
    “Rachel. Yes, we’ve talked about her before. You were very jealous of her and blamed her for Peter having left you. But, I thought we’d already dealt with this. Rachel didn’t meet Peter until after you had already broken up, correct?”
    “Yes,” Lara nodded her head, “that’s correct. But, at the time, all I saw was that she was with him and I wasn’t.  I was so jealous of her. I even managed to arrange it so that the trip to Spain would take months, instead of weeks. I convinced my father to let me oversee the American team, thinking that if I had Peter to myself for three months, he’d forget about Rachel and come back to me.”
    “But that didn’t happen, did it?” David asked.
    “No. Rachel had an aunt who lived outside Barcelona and she came to Spain for an entire month.”
    David raised his eyebrow at this information, but said nothing. “Go on.”
    “I was so furious when I found out she’d followed him across the Atlantic. I even started following them around.” Seeing David’s look, she said, “I’m not proud of my actions, I’m just telling you what happened. Okay?”
    David smiled at her, “Lara, my job isn’t to judge, it’s to listen and help you find a way to deal with things.”
    Lara nodded before she continued, “They went to Siurana for the weekend and I followed them. I was so jealous of them being together. One evening, I saw them getting ready to cross the street. He was holding hands with her, and smiling down at her. They looked so happy together.
    I wasn’t even thinking, I just reacted. I wanted to get him away from her. I