Episode 1083: Soulmates

Katherine tried to remember. It had definitely been months. Most of the time she didn’t give it a thought, not intruding on each other’s busy scheduling worked for them.

When she though about it though, it did bother her, she did think a married couple should make a concerted effort to spend time together, particularly given their history. Her history. She was the one who had strayed.

Not only had it affected her marriage, it had affected her relationship with her son. Sebastian had greeted her with simmering hostility ever since. She’d thought the Xavier situation, maneuvering her son’s rival out of town would finally move the needle, give her a clean slate with Sebastian.

But it hadn’t worked that way, instead her son held her in seemingly more contempt than ever. Admittedly it had gone poorly, fingers had been pointed in Sebastian’s direction when he’d had nothing to do with her attempt to bribe Xavier into leaving. It was a mess. One she still hadn’t figured out how to clean up.

With a sigh she looked across the table to her husband and realized Phillip had been as lost in thought as she’d been throughout the meal.

She didn’t know how to improve the situation with her son’s marriage just then but there was no time like the present to put in an effort on her own marriage.

“You’ve been silently fuming all night,” she said. “Would it help to talk about it?”

“It’s just… frustrating,” Phillip said. “Nothing makes her happy.”

“Who are we talking about?”

“Your daughter.”

“Which daughter? When it comes to our children being dissatisfied with us you need to be more specific since they all seem to harbor more than their share of grievances toward us. These days I’m on the receiving end from Sebastian.”

“I’m sorry about that, Kath. If there’s anything you need from me to smooth the waters… My frustration is with Justine. I haven’t pushed Tansy in any way, just as Justine has asked of me, I bite my tongue because I don’t want our granddaughter banished from our life when clearly she needs better influences than she’s getting at home. I’ve behaved exactly as Justine wants and still it’s not enough for her.” Phillip went on to explain about the missing dog and he and Justine searching together.

Katherine envied Phillip spending time with their eldest child, she couldn’t even recall the last conversation shed had with Justine. But Katherine’s envy rapidly slipped away when Phillip related Justine’s disappointment in the father he’d been and Katherine was very aware that their children saw her in much the same unflattering light.

“I don’t see what’s so wrong with trying to raise success-minded children and living my life as an example of that,” Phillip said.

“Agreed.” Katherine nodded. “If were weren’t so driven their childhoods would have been vastly different.”

“For the better according to Justine,” Phillip groused. “But I remember her as a kid. Justine loved coming into the office with me. I can’t picture her being content spending the day with me in the park instead, much like I still can’t accept that she’s happy with her middle-class life now. But of course I’m the wrongheaded one, I’m the villain.”

“Our children are like three peas in a pod, Justine is like an echo of Sebastian,” Katherine put forth. “I’ve done nothing but let him down apparently. He completely overlooks all the ways I’ve helped him throughout his life and he won’t let go of this one instance where it went wrong.”

“Fill me in on what’s going on,” Phillip said. “I usually have better luck talking sense into Sebastian than I do with Justine. He’s more malleable.”

Episode 1084: Set Me Free