Page 60 of Happy Is On Hiatus
“Are you okay?” he repeated her lawyer’s question. “We can stop and go someplace to talk if you want.”
Was that what she should do? She hadn’t before. Not in the four weeks since they’d been separated. Did the talks in his office and in Ocean City even count? They hadn’t resolved anything on either occasion. And truthfully, what could he say that was going to change the situation? The fact that he’d cheated on her and then had the audacity to take the money they shared.
“No,” she told him quietly. Glancing over at Sharon, she nodded. “I’m fine.”
The talking began. Sharon went first, then Chris. For what seemed like forever, the two attorneys went back and forth, negotiating one point after another.
All the joint bank accounts would be divided equally, using the balances from last month’s bank statements—prior to Nate’s withdrawals—to come up with the totals. And then each account would be closed. A couple of days ago she’d realized there was twenty-five thousand in cash in the house. Both Rita’s grandmother and Nate’s grandfather had the same aversion to banks and had instilled in them the need to have some ready cash just in case. She hadn’t touched the lockbox they kept in the bedroom closet where the money, their life insurance policies, birth certificates, and marriage license were stored. That money would be split too.
“I’m going to update my will,” she blurted out.
“All life insurance policies and personal wills will be updated, I suspect,” Sharon added.
Chris nodded. “Absolutely.”
“The girls should remain primary beneficiaries. We always planned to leave everything to them. That shouldn’t change.” What Rita was really saying was that she didn’t want her daughters to be cut out of their inheritance because he was out here creating more kids. And yeah, that probably sounded harsh, but she didn’t care. Let that other woman worry about and protect her child’s well-being.
“I wouldn’t change that,” Nate said. He was looking at her as if he couldn’t believe she would even say that.
Rita still couldn’t believe she was here in this place discussing the dissolution of her marriage.
“I sent you a copy of our valuator’s report for McCall Motors last week,” Sharon said, obviously ready to move on to the next point.
Chris shuffled some papers around until he found the ones she mentioned. “Yes. Nate and I had a chance to look them over. We also had our own report created. You should’ve received that as well.”
Sharon flipped to that page. “There’s no significant difference.”
“There’s an eighty-five-hundred-dollar difference and some investments that were made through the company that I’m not sure should fall into the same pot for distribution,” Chris said.
“She gets half,” Nate said, and Rita stared at him in shock.
In the days since she’d known this meeting was scheduled, the one thing she’d been prepared to fight about was the business. While she and her lawyer intended to ask for half, she’d been ready for Nate to offer some lowball settlement, especially after the stunt he’d pulled with the bank accounts.
“Fifty percent of McCall Motors and all the investments outlined on our valuation report? Is that what you’re agreeing to?” Sharon asked him.
Chris lifted a hand toward Nate to stop him from replying. “We have to hash out which of the investments should be excluded. If it’s something Nate did on his own, without her knowing, she might not be entitled to half.”
Rita frowned at being referenced as “she.” She’d fed this man, and she’d set him up on a date with her cousin Chanel in Virginia, because that was where Chris lived as well.
“Whatever is in the business name falls under the business. If your client wished for these investments to be separate and apart from same, he should’ve made them solely in his name. In which case we probably still would’ve asserted a claim,” Sharon told him.
“Give her half,” Nate said, raising his voice slightly. “Of everything. And the house, she can have the house in Willow Grove and her car.”
“Nate,” Chris said, rubbing over his face, “we should talk about this a little more. Let’s take a break.”
Nate shook his head. “No. Give it to her.”
“Along with the monetary settlement of three hundred and fifty thousand that we requested?” Sharon asked him directly.
Nate nodded. “Yeah. And alimony,” he said. “I didn’t see that on these papers.”
“I don’t want it,” Rita replied. She’d been speechless for the past few minutes, listening to the exchange, but her gaze had never wavered from Nate’s.
He was watching her just as intently, like the vows they’d spoken were still creating some type of connection that neither one of them was letting go of until the very last moment. No, that wasn’t an emotional connection; she wasn’t entertaining any thoughts of taking him back. That ship had long since sailed. But she did love this man. She’d loved him all of her adult life, loved the part of him that lived in both their daughters, and now, at the moment she expected to hate him the most, she didn’t. She would probably always love him to some extent.
“I can take care of myself,” she said, knowing that alimony meant so much more than that. She just didn’t want it. This was a clean break, and she was already on her way to starting her own business and building a new life for herself. One that didn’t hinge on anything Nate would continue to do for her. “Give me my half of McCall Motors and the lump sum. We can have your name removed from the financial documents and the deed of the house and my car, and then we’ll be done.” She paused and then added, “I’m also keeping my name. It’s my daughters’ name too.”
Nate nodded slowly. “Yeah. We’ll be done.”
