Adele started her job ten days ago, making do with clothes she already had but they were hanging off her frame, so she went to the mall for some new, smaller outfits. Walking and the routine of working had even more of a slimming effect, and while she noticed it in the feel of her clothes, there were just so many things on her mind, she didn’t know which change to give all the credit to. Everything in her life was different. She was working, she had friends, she’d lost weight, she was exercising and feeling healthier and her life, all of it, felt brand-new.
She was thinking about how good it felt to take control of her life when Justine walked into her office unannounced.
“Hi,” she said, walking right up to the desk.
“Justine! What are you doing here?” Adele asked, standing.
“I wanted to see this for myself,” she said, smiling. “You, working in an office.” Then she looked Adele up and down. “My God! Look at you!” She kept her volume down but her enthusiasm was evident. “Oh my God, you said you lost a few pounds! I think you lost fifty! You look fabulous!”
“Thanks,” she said. But then she took a closer look at Justine. Her sister was wasting away. “You’ve lost a little weight...”
“Not too much,” she said, shaking her head. “You know. The famous divorce diet. I could spare it.”
Really, she couldn’t. Justine was thin as a whip before learning of Scott’s affair. Learning of it because Adele told her.
“Let me tell my boss I’m breaking for lunch. This may take a few minutes. I have to find someone to man the desk.”
“No worries, Addie. We don’t have to have lunch. I just wanted to stop by and say hello. I’ll just let you get back to work and—”
“No, we’re going to take lunch. It’s okay. I eat in every day so this is a good idea. One minute.”
Rather than bothering Fran, she went to Ross. “My sister dropped by just to see me working, and I’d like to take her to lunch. She’s going through a divorce, and she looks like she’s wasting away. Can you cover me for an hour?”
Ross made a face, but not because she was put upon. “I gained thirty pounds with my divorce. See? I told you life is not fair.”
“I promise to be back in an hour or less.”
“You take your time, Adele. You’ve been putting in some long days, helping me.”
When she went back to the reception area, Justine was gone. She grabbed her purse out of the desk drawer and stepped outside to find her sister waiting in the hall. With tears in her eyes. Addie had never witnessed that before. “There you are! I was half afraid you’d bolted! What on earth is the matter?”
“I’m sorry,” Justine said. “I’m a little overwhelmed by how wonderful you look!” She dug around in her handbag for a nonexistent tissue. Addie finally gave her one. “That’s the price I pay for not coming to see you in so long.”
“We were both so busy,” Addie said. “Come on. Let me feed you.”
“I’m really not that hungry,” Justine said.
“Are you going to let a divorce kill you? You have to eat!”
“It turns out you don’t have to eat very much,” she said. “But a quiet place to talk would be nice.”
Chapter Seven
Addie directed them to a nearby pub. It was just off campus, so it was crowded.
“I think it’s just stress,” Justine said, referring to her weight loss. “I’ve been running myself ragged, getting everything in order for the divorce, taking the girls to counseling and just trying to be there for them, anticipating one or both having a crisis.”
“And they’re okay?” Addie asked.
“We’ve had a few emotional moments but they’re largely stable. It’s as if nothing is happening because to them it doesn’t feel as if much has changed.”
“How can that be?”
“Well, Scott and I have an oath not to say anything terrible about each other. They know Scott is in love with another woman, even though he won’t admit it. All he will admit to is that they have a lot in common and they enjoy the same things, that they get along and have become very close.”
“Come on! You don’t walk away from a thirty-year marriage and two kids because you have a new friend! Do the girls think you accept this?” Adele asked.
“No,” she said. “No, they know how much this hurts me. But I’ve told them they will always have two parents. We will both do our best to be good parents in spite of the fact that we’re not going to be married.”
“I can’t imagine,” Adele said. “What about her?”
“The woman?” Justine asked. “That’s where I draw the line. I’m not welcoming her into my family. I might have no control, but... I don’t want her around my kids if I can help it. I don’t know how she landed Scott. I don’t know if he’s just an idiot or if she’s amazingly manipulative. It doesn’t matter, does it? He is throwing away everything we’ve built for a woman with a failing business, no assets and a bad track record in relationships. So, I made a term of divorce that we’ll split the equity in the house if she never sets foot in it. Never, ever. If she does, he relinquishes his half of the equity. He didn’t contest it. He signed off on our settlement.”
“How will you know?” Addie asked.
Justine smiled. “Cameras. In the most unusual places. I don’t trust him the smallest bit. He will lose the house.”
Adele was quiet for a moment. “Let’s order some lunch. Look at your menu.”
Justine opened it and gave it a glance. “I’m not all that hungry...”
“But you have to eat something. You’re just too thin right now. For the first time in my life, I’m worried about you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. Justine found it impossible to say that food just didn’t agree with her, that she was having trouble keeping it down. Admitting that made her feel weak. “Maybe a little soup or something,” she said.
“Are you just not eating?” Addie asked. “I understand, you’ve been through a terrible shock, but you can’t let yourself get sick. You have to eat. I have to see you eat.”
“I’ll eat,” Justine said.
“Scott should have trouble eating,” Adele said. “The bastard.”
Justine studied the menu. “Scott is gone,” Justine said. “I don’t know the man who has taken his place. This one is emotionally vacant, except when he talks about just wanting to be happy. I thought he was happy. I supported his desire to indulge his outdoorsy pastimes, and he encouraged and praised my work. Then something happened, but it happened so slowly I didn’t see it. I thought we’d merged into a new kind of love, one not pressured by constant need and desperate passion. And that was okay with me, as long as I had my best friend and confidant and partner. And some affection—I needed that. Some touching and holding. That Scott needed it a lot less than he used to never concerned me.” She sighed deeply. “I’ve been going through our banking records. The cheating has been going on a while.” The waitress came to the table. “I’ll have a cup of chicken tortilla soup,” Justine said.
“Would you like bread with that?” the waitress asked.
“No,” Justine said. “Thank you.”
“Bring her bread,” Addie said. “For me, can you please bring me a lettuce, tomato and avocado salad with a scoop of tuna salad or grilled chicken strips? No bread. A little ranch dressing on the side. And a diet soda. Justine, do you want something to drink?”
“The same. Diet cola.”
“Talk to me,” Adele said once the waitress left. “Tell me where your head is.”
“We’ve talked every few days for weeks,” Justine said.
“Yeah, but I didn’t see you. Clearly we’ve been skimming the surface in our talks. Is it completely over with Scott? Is there no hope?”
“Addie, I’m afraid to try again, and Scott doesn’t want to. I’ve asked him countless times. He thinks this might be for the best. He wants to divide the assets and part ways. We haven’t actually separated because he claims to have nowhere to go and I don’t know what I’m going to do next—I’m thinking about what I want. We’re going to share the house and parenting duties for a few more weeks, at least. It will take some scheduling finesse. And a spine of steel...” Justine dabbed at her mouth, though she hadn’t been eating. “At first I thought maybe I could save the marriage if he at least wanted to, but then I looked at the bank statements. He’s been taking hundreds and hundreds of dollars out of a debit machine every month. For what? Cash at the hotel? Dinner in a nice restaurant? Her car payments or something else she needed? I’d ask him, but there’s no chance I’ll get a straight honest answer. Hundreds, Addie. Thousands! Small withdrawls every two or three days for a couple of years. He’s been lying and cheating and creating a narrative in which it’s my fault for putting in long hours. That’s probably the most painful thing. I’m hearing from friends, you know. Friends who have talked to Scott. He’s telling a story of a cold, overly busy, neglectful wife who put her career first, didn’t participate in family activities, ignored him. I’m so angry with him I want to kill him. He’s used me and played the field. I don’t know what he sees in her.” Their drinks came. Justine lifted hers. “But she has kayaks. You know how Scott loves toys.”
“And activities,” Addie said.
“He’s telling everyone our split is my fault, but he knew exactly what he wanted. Cash. He didn’t ask for half the pictures or books or special things we’d gotten as wedding gifts. Just money. Money and half the value of the house.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What I said I would do from the start—give him what he wants right up to half. He liked the zeroes. There are a few caveats—as long as we’re joint tenants, he has to pay his half of the mortgage or lose his half of the house. He signed off. I’ll be legally divorced in a matter of weeks. In fact, any minute. And then he’s not getting another thing from me, not even a smile.”