Divorce Me Today, Beg Me Tomorrow novel · Chapter 2 of 16
Chapter 2: Fifteen Thousand
Rebecca signs away ten years for fifteen thousand dollars while Kristen checks her phone, and her mother demands to know what Grandma Evelyn left her.
I sat in the Honda for a long time with the engine off.
My husband works for me.
I said it out loud once, to see how it sounded.
It sounded insane.
Then I drove to a motel off the interstate and slept in my scrubs.
Trevor texted at 6:40 the next morning.
"Papers are ready. My lawyer's office, 11am. Don't be late for once."
Eighteen hours.
He'd had them ready for weeks.
The lawyer's office was on the twelfth floor of a glass building downtown.
Trevor was already at the conference table in his good navy suit.
Kristen sat next to him.
She was wearing a white dress.
A white lace dress, with pearls, to her sister's divorce.
She lifted her phone and filmed me walking in.
"Say hi to my followers, Rebecca."
I sat down across from them.
The lawyer was a heavy man who didn't look at me once.
He slid a stack of papers across the table.
"We've kept it simple. Mr. Langley keeps the house, the vehicle and the joint investment account."
"I paid the down payment on that house," I said.
"You'll receive a one-time settlement of fifteen thousand dollars."
Fifteen thousand dollars.
For ten years.
Kristen covered her mouth with her hand.
"Mrs. Langley doesn't have counsel?" the lawyer asked Trevor.
"She can't afford counsel."
Trevor checked his watch.
"Rebecca, please don't drag this out. Sterling announces the VPs on Monday. The CEO likes his people settled. Family men."
"You're a family man?"
"I will be." He took Kristen's hand on the table. "We're getting married next month. I need this clean."
Kristen turned her hand so the light hit her ring.
A square diamond, big and cheap-looking.
"He proposed last night," she said. "In your bed. Is that awful? It felt right."
The lawyer cleared his throat and looked at the ceiling.
I picked up the pen.
"Wait."
Kristen leaned across the table.
Her blue eyes had gone narrow.
Kristen was always the smart one in the family, in the ways that hurt people.
"You're too calm," she said. "You cried when the cat died. You're not crying now. Why?"
"I'm tired, Kristen."
"Give me your phone."
"No."
She reached over and snatched it out of my hand anyway.
Trevor didn't stop her.
She thumbed straight to my calls.
"Who's the 212 number? You talked to it for twenty-six minutes last night."
Everyone at the table looked at me.
"It's a hospital in New York," I said. "They're hiring ER nurses. I have an interview Friday."
Kristen stared at me.
Then she burst out laughing.
"Oh my God. New York. You?"
Trevor laughed too, the easy laugh he used at client dinners.
"You'll be back in a month," he said. "New York eats people like you."
"Don't worry, sis." Kristen tossed the phone back at me. It hit my chest and dropped in my lap. "I'll send you pictures from the wedding."
I signed.
Every page.
Every line the lawyer tapped with his fat finger.
Rebecca Langley. Rebecca Langley. Rebecca Langley.
When I finished, Trevor leaned back.
"See?" he said to Kristen. "I told you she'd go quietly."
The elevator down felt very long.
When the doors opened on the lobby, my mother was standing there.
Diane Bennett, in her camel coat and her pearl earrings, holding a white binder that said KRISTEN AND TREVOR on the front in gold script.
She looked right past me.
"Is it done? Did she sign?"
"She signed," Kristen sang, and ran into her arms.
My mother kissed her on the cheek.
Then she turned to me.
"Well. I hope you've learned something."
"What would that be, Mom?"
"A man needs a woman who can stand next to him. Your sister can stand next to anyone." She looked me up and down. "You always did let yourself go."
People were crossing the lobby around us.
A security guard at the desk was pretending not to listen.
"Mom," I said. "Grandma Evelyn died yesterday."
The lobby went quiet in my ears.
My mother's face didn't move.
Nothing moved except her hand, which tightened on the binder until the plastic cover creaked.
"Who told you that?"
"Her lawyer called me."
"That woman is not your grandmother. I told you that when you were five."
"She sent me a card every birthday. For thirty-two years."
Kristen looked from one of us to the other.
"Wait, what? Grandma who?"
My mother didn't answer her.
For the first time in my life, she didn't answer Kristen.
She crossed the lobby in three steps and grabbed my arm above the elbow.
Her nails dug through my sleeve.
"Her lawyer called you," she said, low. "Not me. You."
"Yes."
Her face was an inch from mine.
"What did she leave you?"
← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend