Page 5 of Soaring Free
“You know I hate when you use your courtroom voice on me, Shane Williams. I am your wife, not a jury to persuade. You want out of what, exactly? Spell it out for me so I’m not assuming anything because what I’m currently assuming is really fuckingserious.” He doesn’t get to tip toe around this; he can grow a pair and man up for once.
“I’m done, Sav. I’m filing for divorce. I bought the penthouse so when I officially move out, I have a home base.”
“Your home is here, with me and our girls, Shane.” I can’t believe we are having this conversation. Is this really happening?
“No, it’s not. Not anymore, Savannah. We’re over.”
“But we’re good, I mean, we aren’t great, but I don’t understand. Is there someone else?”
“No, I haven’t cheated, Savannah. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“We need to talk about this, Shane. Or at the very least, don’t we owe it to each other and our girls to try marriage counselling or something before jumping off the deep end?” Am I really that easy for him to just walk away from?
“Listen,”—Shane huffs in exasperation—"you know that I never wanted the suburban life. I had a plan for my life, and it does not include small town living. It’s suffocating me, and I want my freedom back.”
“Freedom from suburban life, or freedom from me?” The tears well in my eyes as the reality of this conversation starts to sink in.
“They are one in the same, Savannah. I’m sorry.”
“So, I get to explain to my girls that they’re going to have new bedrooms at their father’s house now?” My breath escapes my lungs as my chest tightens at the thought.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll still want to see the girls of course, but you will be named the primary custodial parent, and I’ll still take care of all the expenses. The penthouse is only two bedrooms, but I didn’t think they would want to stay with me anyway, and we won’t live that far away from each other. We will be close enough.”
“I’ve never felt further from you in my entire life, Shane. Go to hell.” I hang up and run to the bathroom, just barely making it before emptying my stomach.
Later that evening, I drowned my sorrows in one of Shane’s favorite bottles of wine he was saving for a special occasion. When I told Vivian and Jack that I was just getting started withdoing anything and everything I can to make his life hell, I meant it. At times, it feels like I’m throwing an adult tantrum, but I really don’t care. I’m so pissed off at the man. He wanted to be done with us, and what, did he really expect me to just roll over and send him off with a wave? He didn’t see the tears his daughters cried when I had to explain to them what was happening because he couldn’t even make time to be present for that conversation with them, despite my pleading. But he doesn’t listen to me, or what I think is best for our girls. He was always at work, but his absence has been amplified in the last month, and he has barely seen them.
So, it only took me about two point five seconds to decide what to do with his most recent divorce settlement offer. We’ve been using a mediator through his law firm, but this offer is beyond ridiculous. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, while controlling the entire situation. When I read the line about child support being reduced by fifty percent if I were to remarry, I saw red. He thinks if I remarry someone else, then he is just off the hook of taking care of our girls? He wants to be done with our marriage, fine, but he doesn’t want me to move on with anyone else? Hell to the no.
If anything, now I’m going to go for even more.
Asshole.
“Mama?” my oldest daughter Olivia calls out as she walks out on the patio. I check my watch but it’s only a few minutes past her bedtime.
“What’s up, baby? I thought you were already in bed.” Olivia is already in her pajamas so she’s probably headed there soon anyway. She is eleven, and while the preteen phase isn’t always fun, she’s definitely the most like me out of our three girls.
“I was, but I wanted to watch that new cake show that dropped tonight, and my Netflix login isn’t working. I can’t figure it out.” Hmm, that’s odd. All those passwords are saved in the cloud, and I didn’t change anything. I grab my phone and pull the app up. That’s strange; I don’t remember signing out of the app. I click the log in button and receive an error message.
Account not found.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Liv, but I’ll fix it, okay? Go on back inside and finish getting ready for bed. I love you.” She leans over to hug me and I kiss her cheek before she goes back inside.
I pull up my email and sure enough, there’s an email cancelling our account. I click reactive account and put in my credit card information.
Payment unsuccessful. Please select another form of payment.
No, that’s not possible. That account has thousands of dollars in it; it’s our general household expenses account. I quickly log in to our bank account and bile creeps up my throat as I read the red banner alert that pops up.
Account assets are temporarily frozen due to ongoing legal proceedings. If you believe you received this message in error, please contact the bank directly.
“Son of a bitch.” I call my asshole ex but he sends me to voicemail. Fine, I’ll chew his ass out through texts.
Me
WTF?! Seriously, Shane? Tell me you did NOT freeze our bank accounts! And why is our Netflix cancelled?
Shane
