“Anything, as long as I can get her back.” They talked for another hour and Lincoln felt good for the first time since Addy moved out. It felt like he had a direction to take, and he would do whatever it took to get his wife back. Sure, they had a lot of crap to work out, but he was willing to do the work if it brought Addison back to him.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Thanks for taking the time to come in to see me, Addison,” Franklin Swinney said as he indicated for Addy to take a seat across from his desk. “I’ll get right down to it. We heard back from Lincoln’s lawyer.”
Addy frowned. It’d only been three days since he’d been served. “And?”
“I won’t lie to you, it doesn’t look good.” He picked up some papers and studied her to gauge her reaction. Before him was a strong, stoic woman.
“Does he want my business, because I’ll fight him on that.”
“No, everything you requested he agreed with.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He agreed with what you requested, he even said that you could have the house, his truck, even his bike, but he won’t sign. However, he countered with counseling.”
“Huh?”
“He’s refusing to sign. He says you can have anything you want, but he won’t sign any divorce papers. His lawyer called me and we discussed it. He talked it over with Mr. Murphy for a long time and he won’t budge. He flat out refuses to sign.”
“Can he do that?”
“He can. I’ve known cases that have drawn out for years because one party won’t sign. And I hate to admit this, but we can’t go to a judge until we’ve reached some sort of agreement. We might have to even do mediation.”
“Which is?”
“A third party comes in and listens to the two of you.”
“Isn’t that what a counselor does?”
“Not really, I believe the counseling Mr. Murphy is requesting is marriage counseling. We lawyers do all we cando, but in layman’s terms, if we reach a stalemate we call in a mediator to see if they can get the clients closer to a resolution. Don’t hold your breath, but again, if one party absolutely refuses to sign, not even a mediator can go to the judge with a request for a divorce between the two parties.”
“How can he do this to me when he’s still seeing that woman?” Addy stood and paced. She felt like crap, she had a head cold, a stomach ache, and severe cramps which she‘d had for the last three days. But she hadn’t started her period yet, and this was all leading up to one. She just knew when it arrived, she’d be knocked out for the count for a few days. And on top of it all, she wasn’t sleeping. Unless her falling asleep at her desk at odd hours of the day counted for sleep.
“How do you know that?” Franklin sat forward and began taking notes.
“The day you called me and told me he was served, I happened to be in his shop. For seven years I’ve taken my vehicles there for their yearly inspection. It was that time of year. I arrived and stayed in the reception area. I was told it’d take thirty to forty-five minutes. Ninety minutes later, I went out and asked if the truck was done. She was there in his arms.” She pulled her phone and showed him the picture she’d snapped.
“It’ll cost you, but how would you feel about me getting a private investigator to follow him or her or both?”
“Can you do that?”
“Do it all the time.”
“Do you think it’ll help?”
“It might, as of right now, we’re basically at a standstill. Would you be willing to go to counseling?”
“I’d have to think about it. Can I get information without committing?”
“Yes, I’ll send you an e-mail with the information, and get back to Lincoln’s lawyer.”
“Thanks, Franklin,” Addy said, and stopped in the ladies’ room on her way out. She refreshed her makeup, but still looked and felt like crap. She left her lawyer’s office and headed back to hers. As she walked in the door she looked around, and called out, “Brian! My office in five!” Not stopping on her way through.
Exactly five minutes later there was a knock on her door. “Close it behind you, please,” Addy said without looking up. “Have a seat, I’ll be right with you.” Two minutes later she looked up, tossed her pen down on her work, sat back in her chair and sighed. “I’m going to make some changes around here.”
“Excuse me?” Brian asked in confusion. He’d been working for Addy for the last four years, and this was the first time, outside his yearly reviews, that he’d had a closed-door meeting with the boss.
