“Richard, why don’t you sit with me for a minute? I have something I want to talk about.”
His jaw muscle tenses. “Really? At ten o’clock at night, after I’ve been traveling all day? That’s your idea of a good time to talk?”
“Yes.” My attempt at cool beauty is over, because I can feel the angry redness already crawling up my neck.
“Christ,” he swears, and sits. That’s when he sees the paperwork. He picks up the prenup, glances at it, and tosses it back down with a sigh. “What is it now?”
“I think it’s time for us to be honest about our marriage and what it is. What it’s not.”
“What are you talking about?” He’s barely listening to me.
I barrel on. “We’d both be happier if we admitted it’s over. I printed out the forms we need to file a joint petition. It’ll be easier and faster that way.”
He’s listening now, his eyes narrow and expression dark. “You won’t get the house.”
“I know.”
“You won’t get anything.”
I force myself to breathe in a normal pattern. “I’m well aware. There’s no reason to fight about it. We can file this form, divide assets according tothe prenup, and be done in a matter of months. I thought we might want to tell the girls together, too. It’s the afternoon there, so it’s a good time to call if you want to do it now.”
“Oh, I’ll be sure to inform them of your actions,” he spits, pushing back from the table and standing so he can loom over me. “If you don’t want to be part of this family, there’s no reason for you to speak with them ever again.”
My heartrate picks up. He’s angrier than I expected. I know it’s not because he’ll miss me, but I must have caught him off-guard.
“You have a right to be upset, but you can’t cut me off from my own children. They’re adults now. Please, Richard, this will be easier for everyone if we can work together and stay civil.”
“You should have thought of that before youdecided to destroy our family. If you so much as text-message my daughters with your dog-fucking fingers, I will stop the payment on their tuition. Do you understand me?” His voice is shaking, and his face is so close to mine that I can smell the wintergreen mints mixed with airplane scotch on his breath.
The scent turns my stomach, so I tilt my face away. He grabs my jaw and twists it back toward him, his fingertips digging painfully into my cheeks. “I asked you aquestion.”
This isn’t the time to reason with him. He’s one millisecond from losing it completely. I really, really wish I had that button in my hand right, because I would press it. I can barely get words out. “I understand.”
He releases me. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
“What about the paperwork—” I begin, but he cuts me off by slamming his hand down on the table.
“Out.”
I get the fuck out. I don’t even stop for shoes and a jacket. I just grab my purse and go, barefoot and braless, into the November night.
I think I cry on Nicole and Heidi’s shoulders for an hour. “Why was he so mean?” I sniffle once I can get the words out.
“Like I’ve been telling you, he’s a dick,” Nicole says grimly. “I hate that motherfucker.”
“But why would he threaten to cut off the girls like that?” I shake my head. “I don’t understand. He wants them to go to college. He wants them to be successful.”
“It’s not about them. He wants to punish you, and he knows that there’s nothing you lovemore in the world than your children,” Heidi says gently. “He can take everything else away from you, and you’ll be okay. But if he takes them away from you…you won’t be. He’s willing to hurt them to hurt you.”
“Because he’s aDICK,” Nicole adds.
That sends me into a new bout of noisy sobs. “What am I going to do? I can’t live without them.”
“Let’s go egg his house,” Nicole suggests. I can tell she’s trying to make me laugh and lighten the mood.
“No.” Heidi eyes her wife sternly. “What you’re going to do is hire a great lawyer.”
“With what money?” I ask weakly. “It’s all his.”
