Selective/Memory: The "Depth of Emotion" Book 2 (The Depth of Emotion) Read Free

unsuccessful in lifting Declan up, mentally or physically. He was the one who succeeded in dragging himself down, and he dragged her down with him.
    Seeing him drown in his misery, she felt helpless in her love for him, and so she clung tightly, sinking lower and lower. They joined together going so far into the depths of his despair that she no longer recognized herself. Identifying with him in every area, she found she’d only breathe air when he chose to inhale, they were so tightly woven, and his depression finally suffocated her. She had broken under the weight of his monotonous pessimism and oppression. Aria fought to make him better, and it proved to make her worse. As much as it broke her heart, after an afternoon of his constant berating and belittling of himself and her, she made a conscious decision to remove herself from his life.
    She had spoken to Dr. Dulaney in the hallway when she was leaving Declan’s room that horrible afternoon. The kind doctor could see that Aria was visibly upset, losing weight, and wasn’t recovering well herself. When the doctor invited her to sit for a few minutes, she coaxed her into revealing the distressing way that Declan was behaving toward her. Through tears, Aria confessed that she wanted to help him, but didn’t know how. Dr. Dulaney took her hands, and with true sincerity in her face, told Aria that she needed to allow Declan to work through this, and that might mean that he’d have to do it alone.
    Upon the conclusion of their talk, Dr. Dulaney gave Aria the name of a doctor that she believed could help her through the emotional trauma of witnessing Declan’s accident, and the belief that she was responsible, which the doctor assured her she was not. At the time, she didn’t think anyone would ever help, but once she met with Dr. Sumner, Aria believed her to be a miracle worker…
     
    Over the past few months, Dr. Sumner helped her to see that Declan’s accident was just that—an accident. She wasn’t to blame or at fault. She was a woman in love and had reacted with natural instinct to seeing the man she loved with, and being fondled by, another woman.
    “Flight or fight,” she said.
    The anxiety and adrenaline was what had caused her to run. Intellectually, she knew there was an explanation, but they had just come back from an argument the day before and that woman , the reason for that argument was in her home, with her man, and the trespassers hands were on what belonged to her . Dr. Sumner assured her that she was perfectly normal ; it was the situation that wasn’t. Once Aria overcame that hurdle, she stopped beating herself bloody and began to recover. Physical exertion helped to initiate the emotional healing.
    She had resumed her routine of walking and had begun to do that on the Boardwalk, but as she thought of the things that Marisol had done and mentally listed them, her feet picked up pace. She began to run and figuratively trample them one by one under her feet—and it felt good! She even pictured stomping on Marisol as she ran. The running was as good for her mentally as it was for her physically. She felt stronger in mind and body. After doing it now for months, she was beginning to feel indestructible! One thing was certain—that bitch would NEVER take her down again. She would see her in hell first!
    Declan was another matter entirely. She hadn’t decided what would happen there. As far as he was concerned, she presumed he thought that they were over. Aria had run into him, but not really spoken with him since that afternoon at the hospital. She loved him and hated him that day. She wanted to hold him and make it better, but she wanted him to stop torturing her. Now she knew it was absolutely necessary for his recovery, as well as her own, that they be removed from each other’s lives—at least for a time. It was the opposite of what she believed when the accident occurred.
    When you loved someone you should always be there to help them