Thou Art With Me by Debbie Viguié Page B

face because suddenly Jeremiah was rubbing her shoulders.
    “You need to relax, there’s no need to worry about work or anything else right now,” he said. He looked at the others. “My Cindy is a bit of a perfectionist, and she sometime has a hard time letting go.”
    Around the table heads bobbed up and down in understanding.
    “I’m sorry, it’s been a busy few weeks and I’m afraid it will take me a little while to unwind and put it all behind me,” she said.
    “You will, though, dear,” Dorothea said sympathetically. “This is the place to do it as well. The staff here are always so courteous and friendly they make it easy.”
    “You’ve been here before?” Cindy asked.
    “Many times,” Flynn said with a smile for his wife. “We’ve found it very helpful to come once a year and really get in touch with each other, reconnect.”
    “So you’re here every year?” Jeremiah asked.
    “Yes, just like clockwork. We come to celebrate our anniversary. We used to take trips, but we realized that we were engaging in activities that were focusing us outward instead of inward on us and our relationship,” Dorothea said.
    “Well, it must be working. You two seem to be going strong,” Beth said, her voice almost a little wistful.
    “It’s done wonders for our marriage. You’ll see, it can help yours, too,” Flynn said.
    “That’s why we’re here,” Tristan said.
    Dorothea and Flynn both turned to look at Cindy and Jeremiah. Cindy was a little taken aback by the intensity of their stares.
    “And it will help you, too. If you survive it,” Dorothea said bluntly.
    “What do you mean, ‘survive it’?” Cindy asked.
    “Don’t let tonight fool you. They might be all love and flowers tonight, but the staff are relentless. If you have weaknesses in your relationship they will find them and force you to deal with them. It won’t be pretty or pleasant by any stretch of the imagination,” Flynn said.
    “It’s hardest on those who aren’t married yet. For the rest of us we keep at it and work at it because no one who comes here wants a divorce and we all know how nasty and protracted those can become. For the engaged couples that come here, though, it’s different because they can just get up and walk away without the same ramifications and legal repercussions. They come in all lovey dovey, you know, pawing at each other and everything, but when things get real they can’t handle it. Marriage is hard work and so many people don’t understand that ahead of time,” Dorothea said.
    “Surely some of the engaged couples make it,” Cindy said. “I mean, they must want to work through their differences if they’ve come to a place like this.”
    Flynn shook his head. “They come expecting to get couples’ massages while being told how perfect they are for each other. Either that or they come expecting to change something about the other person. Either way they end up disappointed and then angry.”
    “Do you know that in all the years we’ve been coming to this place not once have we seen an engaged couple get through the week together?” Dorothea said. “It’s always very sad.”
    “Then it’s a good thing we’re just dating,” Jeremiah said, clearly trying to lighten the mood.
    Cindy was again kicking herself for not having gone along with the fake marriage story. She’d had no idea just how much attention they would get because they weren’t married.
    “You seem like a nice young couple. I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Flynn said, with a half-smile.
    He didn’t mean it, though. Cindy could tell, and it upset her. She told herself that there was no reason to get upset, but she couldn’t fight it. Jeremiah didn’t say anything, but he kept massaging her shoulders.
     
     
    Mark was cursing the fact that he’d opted to rent a car for the evening instead of just taking a cab to the law firm. By the time he pulled into the parking lot it was six o’clock and he was worried he might have