the girls. I’ll want to have unlimited access and allow you the same, but we’ll spend the nights on different nights. I’d like to see them almost every day. By the time they’re in college, we’ll both have figured out where we’re going to settle. We can sell the house then, and I know I’ll have space for them wherever I live. And I suppose you will, too.”
He was clearly shocked. “You’d leave the house?”
“When I find something, but I’d want to be here for them often to help them make the adjustment. I’m sure that can be worked out, don’t you think?”
“I...ah... Yeah. You mean you’d leave this house?”
“As I said, I’d want to stay in very close touch with Amber and Olivia, see them almost every day, help with homework, shopping, chaperone, et cetera. And it’s bound to take at least a few weeks or months to get them used to the idea that we’re going to live apart. That’s certain to be as difficult for them as for me.”
“Of course,” he said, sitting up a little straighter. He grinned. He looked downright excited.
“I have only one condition.”
“Name it.”
“She cannot be in this house. My house containing my things. Never. Not once.”
“Now why would you make that a condition?” he asked. “She is not the reason our marriage is ending. The blame is mine!”
“Of course the blame is yours and make no mistake, I’m willing to work with you even though I hate you. You’ve torn up my family! You destroyed our marriage. My daughters have been crying for weeks! Everything will be affected. Likely where they can go to college will be affected! But I ask one thing—she must never be in my house. She must not cook here, sleep here, celebrate here, watch the Super Bowl here or die here. In a couple of years, when we sell the house and you take your things and I take mine, do whatever you want. Until then, that’s my condition. I’ll get language in the decree that if you violate that condition, the house is mine, free and clear. If you want to fight it out, I’ll get a lawyer. I can guarantee you it’ll run up a bill of a hundred grand and take a year of your life you’ll never get back.”
“A hundred grand! How do you know that?”
She softened her voice and kept steady. “I’m a lawyer. We talk.”
He rubbed a hand over his head, through his thinning hair. “Wow,” he said. “How am I supposed to explain that?”
The way he said that, she knew.
“Oh my God,” she said quietly. “She’s already been here.”
“No,” he said, but he couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Her DNA is in my house!”
“No,” he said. “When we were remodeling, she was curious about the kitchen counters and stuff, so I showed her. That’s all.”
“God, I could kill you! Well, that’s it—I can’t believe anything you say.” She shook her head. “When did you become such a liar?”
“You’re overreacting. We were just friends until very—”
“Just shut up, Scott. Tell her I blame her as much as you. Tell her I’m not only a mean black-hearted bitch, I’m smarter than both of you put together. Tell her she took what was mine and I’m not giving her one more thing. And tell her to be afraid. Very, very afraid.”
“I don’t know about this,” he said. “I thought we could work it out fairly, but—”
“We’re going to the bank together, Scott. We’re dividing the cash. I called Sal, the wealth management adviser. He put our funds in lockdown. You are free to consult an attorney, but that’s on your dime. I’m not hiring an attorney and am willing to write this up, get your approval and file it, which will save us a ton of money. From now on, we keep track of every nickel. Decide what you want to do. You can make this neat and easy or difficult and expensive.”
Chapter Five
Adele could feel the change in her sister, but she wasn’t sure exactly what it meant. Justine, who had never