I Will Always Love You by Annette Evans Page A

Stefan often?”
    “Every minute of every day,” she answered honestly. “And I still miss him so much.”
    “What do you miss about him?”
    She smiled softly as thoughts of Stefan tumbled into her mind. “I miss everything about him. I miss the talks that we used to have. I miss his friendship, his smile, and his kindness. But most of all, I miss his love.”
    “Tell me how you felt when you broke off your relationship with Stefan,” Dr. Foster urged.
    “I felt sad and lonely. But most of all, I felt the way that I still feel today. Empty.”
    “The emptiness you feel inside is the greater capacity that you have to love someone else.”
    “But I don’t want to love someone again,” Melissa stated.
    Dr. Foster raised her elegantly arched eyebrows. “Why not?”
    Melissa sighed and shook her head. She declared, “Love hurts too much.”
    “Melissa, the power to take control is within you.”
    With a genuine smile on her face, Melissa said, “Now you really sound like a shrink, Dr. Foster.”
    “I think that is the first time I have seen you really smile. You should do it more often. It really lights up your face,” the doctor remarked.
    The smile faded from Melissa’s face as her eyes grew dark. “Stefan used to tell me the same thing.”
    “You know, Melissa, people are going to do things and say things that will remind you of Stefan. You need to learn how to deal with that.”
    “I know,” she said with a heavy sigh. She stood and walked over to the window. “It’s just that I miss him so much.” She turned back to Dr. Foster and crossed her arms over her chest. “And I miss being in Germany.” She smiled at the memories. “That was the best time of my life. I was somebody there. I was Melissa. I wasn’t Sarah ’s sister or Peter and Greta’s daughter. I was Melissa.”
    “And you are still Melissa.”
    “I sometimes feel like I’ve forgotten who Melissa really is.”
    “Then you need to do some work to find her again,” Dr. Foster said.
    Melissa slowly nodded her head. “Okay.” She walked back over to the chair and sat down.
    Dr. Foster watched her patient. She was pleased with the progress that Melissa was already making in her therapy. “Melissa,” she began, “I’m going to tell you something that you probably will not like. But I feel that you need to hear it anyway.”
    Melissa bit her lower lip. “Okay, doctor.”
    “First loves are blind, passionate, and unrealistic. Stefan was your first love and now he is married to someone else. You’re young. Trust me, you will love again. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
    Melissa smiled wistfully. “You sound like my mother, not my doctor.”
    “I suppose I do. I apologize.”
    “It’s okay. I guess you’re right. It’s just that I’m afraid.”
    “What are you afraid of?”
    “I’m afraid of falling in love again and losing myself.”
    “You need to learn to keep perspective in relationships so that you don’t become co-dependent.”
    “I guess I have a lot of work to do, huh?”
    “Yes. But you don’t have to do it alone. I’ll help you every step of the way. And I’m sure that your parents and sister will help, too. In fact, I think some family sessions would be good. But that’s further down the road.”
    “Thank you, but I don’t think my parents and sister will agree to family sessions, especially my father. He thinks that I’m just wasting my time and his money by coming here. He only agreed to the therapy because my mother and sister practically insisted on it.”
    Dr. Foster nodded her head and frowned. “Well, let’s not worry about that now. We can deal with the family sessions when the time comes.”
    “Okay,” Melissa said. She looked at her psychiatrist and couldn’t help but smile.
    “What are you smiling about?”
    Melissa shrugged her shoulders. “I just want you to know that I’m beginning to feel better about some things. At least, a little bit better. I’m starting to feel