�You were engaged?�
I groaned internally. Of course that would be the thing that the shrink would pick up on. �Yeah.�
�How long were you together?�
�We were dating for about three years before I proposed. We were engaged for almost a year when we split up. We had everything planned�the date was set, dresses were purchased, every white rose in the world was on its way to New York, RSVPs had come in�and� I screwed up.�
�I highly doubt it was your fault,� Stanley said.
I smiled softly. �You�re probably thinking that I have an overactive guilt complex or something, but the truth is that I screwed up and� I don�t know, maybe if I hadn�t basically forgotten about her in the excitement of the campaign�� I trailed off. Stanley was looking at me intently and I felt more than a little nervous under his unwavering stare. �Lisa works as a writer for Vanity Fair and she decided that we should write our own vows. I was fine with that. It was just� just another detail that I had to remember when September rolled around. It was six months before the wedding� President Bartlet had given us a few days off after a big event, so I went back to New York since I hadn�t really been home since I joined the campaign. Lisa started bugging me about my vows, wanting to know if I�d written them yet, and when she found out I hadn�t, if I had even started them. I had barely had time to breathe let alone work on anything not related to the campaign in two months so I promised that while I was home I would write them and that I would spent the next six months editing and polishing them to make every word perfect.�
Stanley quirked an eyebrow at me. �You didn�t write the vows?�
�No, I wrote them. But somehow in the middle of how I loved Lisa I changed tracks and started writing out notes for a strategy we had all been asked to consider during our long weekend. The unfortunate part is I ended up bracketing the strategy notes with my vows without realizing it and Lisa stumbled across them� and the next thing I know she�s handing me back the ring I gave her and I�m shipping my things to my parents place until I find out where I�m going to be living once the campaign comes to an end.�
The room was silent for a moment before Stanley spoke again. �Your parents didn�t have a happy marriage?�
�I wouldn�t say that. I believe that they truly loved each other. I think they might still love each other. But somewhere along the way the way they loved each other changed. Somewhere down the road they�ll probably end up being friends, which is more than a lot of people get,� I said. Maybe I was being the idealist that everyone was always saying I was, but I can�t help the way I feel about my parent�s situation. I know they�re not going to get back together, and I wouldn�t support them if they said they were, but I can�t help thinking that maybe getting divorced will be the thing that brings my parents, the people they used to be before the fighting and the lies and the anger and the drinking, back to life and maybe even back to each other, if only as friends.
�Do you think that one of your parents resented the other?� Stanley asked.