Chapter 5: Three Rules

Claire was gone before the receptionist put the phone down.

She said she'd get the car, and she walked out the front door with the folder pressed against her ribs.

I stood in the parking lot with my heart going hard, and Daniel came out behind me with his coat still over his arm.

"Laura. Please."

"I'm not going back in there today."

"Okay."

"I'm not going home with you, either."

"Okay."

"Stop saying okay."

He closed his mouth.

His face was raw and tired, and for one second I wanted to put my hand on it.

Then I thought of the folder with my name on its tab, and I didn't.

That night, after Teddy and Bea were asleep upstairs, Daniel sat at Winnie's kitchen table with his hands flat on the wood.

Winnie had gone to bed.

I knew she was awake, because the stairs hadn't creaked once.

I had a legal pad and a pen, and I had written three lines on it in the car.

"Here are my terms," I said. "If you want to see the kids, you follow them."

"Whatever you want."

"One. You don't touch me. Not my hand, not my shoulder, not my forehead when you leave."

His jaw moved, and he nodded.

"Two. The kids come first. We don't fight where they can hear, and we don't say anything about each other to them that isn't true."

"Agreed."

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