Chapter 18: The Cost of Losing

The lawyer's office was on the ninth floor, and I was there at ten to nine on Monday with my coat still on.

He met me at the glass door with a folder and a smile that was already tired.

"Miles. I assumed you'd want to talk strategy."

"I want to withdraw it," I said.

"All of it. The motion and the petition."

He kept smiling for a second longer than he should have.

"I'd advise against that," he said.

"The mediation is Wednesday, and the other side has a weak position."

"The other side is my wife," I said.

"And she's not weak. She's the reason my son has a closet light."

He sat down behind his desk and opened the folder.

"You understand the fee," he said.

"The retainer is non-refundable once a petition is filed. That's eighteen thousand dollars."

"Plus the filing costs and the time I've already put in."

"And the judge will see a father who filed for primary custody and withdrew within a week."

"Good," I said.

"I'd like the judge to see exactly that."

He stared at me.

Then he turned the withdrawal form around and clicked a pen.

I signed on the line marked client.

It took less than a minute.

I read every page of it first, all four, with him watching me do it, and he sighed twice.

When I stood to go, he said, "You know you would have won."

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