He Gave His Female Best Friend My 5th Anniversary Trip, Then Bet I Wouldn't Leave novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Terms

The mediator was a calm woman with reading glasses on a chain and a box of tissues she never touched.

She had put us at a round table so nobody sat at the head.

Derek's lawyer sat beside him in a gray suit, and my lawyer sat beside me with a legal pad she hadn't written on yet.

"Mr. Maddox has made an offer," the mediator said. "Ms. Westerby, I'll read it, and you tell me what you think."

She read it.

I kept my eyes on Derek while she did.

He offered to leave me the townhouse lease, the savings and the car, and to pay support from the day the baby was born.

In return, he asked for equal time with the child, half the week at his place, starting in the first month.

"Equal time starting from the first month," I said.

"It's fair," said Derek's lawyer.

"The baby will be four weeks old."

"Then we'll hire help."

"Who feeds the baby at his place?"

Derek leaned forward.

"I'll learn."

"You told me you'd learn everything in a bakery," I said. "That was last week."

His lawyer put a hand on his arm.

My lawyer finally picked up her pen.

"Ms. Westerby would like to respond with her own terms," she said. "Three of them."

"Go ahead," said the mediator.

I had written them on the back of a pharmacy receipt in Carrie's kitchen, at two in the morning, when I couldn't sleep.

"One," I said. "The money stays where the court put it. It's my bonuses, and it goes to the baby and me. I'm not trading it for anything."

"Agreed," Derek's lawyer said at once.

"Two. He gets time with his child, and he gets more of it as he shows up. Daytime visits start at six weeks, at my place or a public one. Overnights start when the baby is a year old, if he's attended every visit."

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