about the future. Her husband has never really worked and he wants alimony!”
Ross gave a helpless shrug. “Support payments are part of the law,” she said.
“He could have worked. He just likes to have fun,” Addie said. “I hate him so much! Justine has worked so hard and—” She sighed and wiped at her eyes. “My sister is twenty years older than me, and she’s always been the most together, successful, strongest woman I know. Here she is, falling apart. And I can’t help.”
“You can probably help if you want to.”
“I would if I had any idea how!”
“Of course you can help,” Ross said. “First of all, one of the most important things you can do when someone is going through a traumatic life transition like this is listen. Let them vent and rant and just listen patiently. You can also suggest counseling...”
“They went to marriage counseling,” Adele said. “She said Scott lied all the way through it until their last session, when he admitted he’d been having an affair—after she said she had proof of it. It sounds like it was going on for a year or two...”
“Not unusual,” Ross said. “A person who has learned to lie to his spouse every day for years has no trouble coming up with a good story in counseling. And that year or two? It’s never a surprise when it’s double that.”
“Double that? And he wants alimony!”
“Even though that causes rage and feels unfair, it is the law—no fault, community property. Right now what’s important is that your sister protect her assets, the most important of which are her children and her self-esteem. Nothing can gut a woman’s self-esteem like being rejected and abandoned.”
“She’s a lawyer,” Adele said. “A friend of hers is drawing up the divorce. The paperwork. I think it’s almost completely filed already and should be final quickly.”
“Then other than urging her to get good professional advice, I’m assuming she’s in the driver’s seat. Well, except for the shock and pain of it. And the grief. None of us escapes that, and there’s no way through it but through it. Adele, who do you have to talk to? Because this is obviously your pain and transition, too.”
She gave a helpless shrug. “I have friends. I have my weight-loss support group, even if I don’t tell them that much really personal stuff. I have Jake, my friend since we were kids. His mom was my mom’s best friend, and Jake’s always looked out for me. When he can.”
“Not your sister?”
“It’s hard to explain, but with Justine being twenty years older, we sort of relied on each other without ever being really close. She relied on me to help with things like babysitting after her children were born, and I relied on her financially when our mom was bedridden. Justine helped, since I couldn’t work. We’ve always loved each other, but we weren’t like friends. I was working on my graduate degree in English when my dad became an invalid and I—” She shrugged.
“You dropped out to help at home,” Ross said.
“I wasn’t sure I was on the right path anyway,” Adele said. “My plan was kind of falling apart. It just didn’t feel right anymore. Dropping out to help at home gave me a break to think about things. And then it just sort of stretched out.”
“That must have been frightening for you,” Ross said.
“You have no idea,” Adele said.
“And was Justine supportive?”
“She was amazing. At that time, it was the closest we’d ever been. Of course, I was so needy. I felt like such a screwup and failure. But she reassured me that it was all right, that I should take all the time I needed, and it had nothing to do with my parents needing me. We could have gotten help from elsewhere. Except I was there and I wanted to be useful. So...”
“And you didn’t want to go back to school?”
“Not until I was sure of things. My parents were disappointed. But Justine supported my decision and kept my parents cool.”