“Have a great life, Mitchell,” I said. “Let’s see if we can rein in our lawyers when next we meet.”
“And we’ll sell the house?”
“No. I’m not selling this house.”
“Then I’m not increasing the alimony.”
I sighed deeply. “Fine. Just let me have the house and get out of my life.”
He stopped at the door and turned around. “We did havesomegood times, didn’t we, Viv?”
“I thought so,” I said.
He nodded in agreement and left.
As I watched him walk away, it felt as though a heavy boulder had been lifted from my chest. For years, my biggest fear had been that my husband would leave me just like my father had left my mother.
Turns out, watching my mother leave had hurt a whole helluva lot more.
Chapter 35
My cat was judging me.
While it wasn’t unusual for Lucky to judge me for offenses both real and imagined, her meaning had become clear. My cat, it seemed, wanted to know where my mother had gone.
First, she’d looked at the chair in the breakfast room where Mom would drink her coffee. Then she would hop on the middle cushion of the couch and look over to the right where Mom used to sit. Sometimes she would paw at the closed bedroom door, knowing that I was in my office.
“You’re not subtle, Lucky.”
She responded with a meow full of sass.
“Well, I don’t know how to apologize.”
Lucky’s vehement meow made me take a step back.
“Easy for you to say.”
My phone buzzed, and my spirits rose and fell as I saw the name wasn’tMom. Then they surged again because it wasDylan.
“Mom!”
“Yes, Buddy Bear?”
“Guess who has two thumbs and a B in Latin?”
“I’m hoping that’s you,” I said. The sound of his excited voice made my heart somersault. I picked up a rag and started wiping down the kitchen counters, even though they didn’t need it.
“Oh, it’s me. Now guess who has an A in English?”
I grinned even though he couldn’t see me through the phone. “I hope that’s you, too.”
“It is! Turns out one bad grade doesn’t necessarily sink you in college, at least not if you have shown”—he cleared his throat—“significant improvement.”
“I’m so proud of you, and I’m looking forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving if not sooner.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll make it home before then,” he said, the words both elating me and depressing me all at the same time. “I joined an intramural flag football team.”
“That’s my boy!” I said.
