Really, she couldn’t. Justine was thin as a whip before learning of Scott’s affair. Learning of it because Adele told her.
“Let me tell my boss I’m breaking for lunch. This may take a few minutes. I have to find someone to man the desk.”
“No worries, Addie. We don’t have to have lunch. I just wanted to stop by and say hello. I’ll just let you get back to work and—”
“No, we’re going to take lunch. It’s okay. I eat in every day so this is a good idea. One minute.”
Rather than bothering Fran, she went to Ross. “My sister dropped by just to see me working, and I’d like to take her to lunch. She’s going through a divorce, and she looks like she’s wasting away. Can you cover me for an hour?”
Ross made a face, but not because she was put upon. “I gained thirty pounds with my divorce. See? I told you life is not fair.”
“I promise to be back in an hour or less.”
“You take your time, Adele. You’ve been putting in some long days, helping me.”
When she went back to the reception area, Justine was gone. She grabbed her purse out of the desk drawer and stepped outside to find her sister waiting in the hall. With tears in her eyes. Addie had never witnessed that before. “There you are! I was half afraid you’d bolted! What on earth is the matter?”
“I’m sorry,” Justine said. “I’m a little overwhelmed by how wonderful you look!” She dug around in her handbag for a nonexistent tissue. Addie finally gave her one. “That’s the price I pay for not coming to see you in so long.”
“We were both so busy,” Addie said. “Come on. Let me feed you.”
“I’m really not that hungry,” Justine said.
“Are you going to let a divorce kill you? You have to eat!”
“It turns out you don’t have to eat very much,” she said. “But a quiet place to talk would be nice.”
Chapter Seven
Addie directed them to a nearby pub. It was just off campus, so it was crowded.
“I think it’s just stress,” Justine said, referring to her weight loss. “I’ve been running myself ragged, getting everything in order for the divorce, taking the girls to counseling and just trying to be there for them, anticipating one or both having a crisis.”
“And they’re okay?” Addie asked.
“We’ve had a few emotional moments but they’re largely stable. It’s as if nothing is happening because to them it doesn’t feel as if much has changed.”
“How can that be?”
“Well, Scott and I have an oath not to say anything terrible about each other. They know Scott is in love with another woman, even though he won’t admit it. All he will admit to is that they have a lot in common and they enjoy the same things, that they get along and have become very close.”
“Come on! You don’t walk away from a thirty-year marriage and two kids because you have a new friend! Do the girls think you accept this?” Adele asked.
“No,” she said. “No, they know how much this hurts me. But I’ve told them they will always have two parents. We will both do our best to be good parents in spite of the fact that we’re not going to be married.”
“I can’t imagine,” Adele said. “What about her?”
“The woman?” Justine asked. “That’s where I draw the line. I’m not welcoming her into my family. I might have no control, but... I don’t want her around my kids if I can help it. I don’t know how she landed Scott. I don’t know if he’s just an idiot or if she’s amazingly manipulative. It doesn’t matter, does it? He is throwing away everything we’ve built for a woman with a failing business, no assets and a bad track record in relationships. So, I made a term of divorce that we’ll split the equity in the house if she never sets foot in it. Never, ever. If she does, he relinquishes his half of the equity. He didn’t contest it. He signed