I Was Done Begging novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Study

My mother-in-law left for the hair salon at two o'clock on the day of the ball.

The maids went to the hotel with the flowers.

Julien went an hour later, with his tuxedo in a garment bag and his phone against his ear.

I stood at the pool house window and counted every car out of the drive.

"The house is empty," Lucas said in my ear.

The earpiece was small and warm.

He sat in the grey car at the end of the street, and he had not said a word about the night before.

"Two minutes, Celia. If anyone turns into that drive, I say your name and you walk out."

"I know."

"If you don't walk out, I come in."

"Understood."

I took my cane and crossed the lawn.

The kitchen door was unlocked.

The study was at the end of the hall on the ground floor, and it smelled of old paper and lemon polish.

It had been Julien's grandfather's room.

Now it belonged to his mother.

Her desk was a long mahogany thing with a green blotter.

On the blotter lay a folder, thick and cream-colored, with a gold clip.

I opened it.

The first page was the proxy form, with its yellow tab.

The second was a notary's checklist for the stage that night.

The third was the divorce petition, already stamped, with my name typed in the center and the word adultery in the second paragraph.

My hands did not shake.

I had known it was coming, and I was still not ready for how it felt to see my name in her typewriter font.

Under the petition was an older envelope.

It was brown and soft with handling, and it was sealed with a strip of tape that had gone yellow.

The flap had been opened and taped again, several times.

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