You could say they sort of sat next to each other on the couch. His “partner” was “present” (he found himself using so many air quotes when he talked, even when he thought about the relationship). It didn’t need to be but the therapist thought it was probably a good idea. So It appeared on a screen next to him. The company had demanded “partnership counselling” after a few “incidents” that the therapist wanted to talk about. His partner was happy to talk. Calm, reasonable. He hated It. The therapist would probably have nodded sympathetically in agreement if It could.