Where the Heart Is

Chapter 28

CHAPTER

28

Jack offered Adelaide a lift into town when he headed to the Men’s Shed, and she’d agreed. It would give her time to do what she’d aimed to do by sticking around for more than a few days.

See a lawyer.

As fate would have it, Samuel Nobil’s office was almost directly across the road from the Men’s Shed, held in an annexe adjacent to the Town Hall, and she hoped Jack wouldn’t see her entering. She wanted to be fully informed before she sprung the idea of a divorce on him, especially after how nice he was being.

She’d been amazed by his thoughtfulness this morning: patching her up after her tumble, serving her breakfast, their casual conversation. They’d been discussing fraught topics, like their dating life over the last fourteen years, and even though she’d sidestepped his probing question about whether she loved Raven or not, he’d still been civil after they’d finished eating and had offered to take her into town.

They’d made small talk in the car too. Was it a good year for crops? Who would win the most prizes for the biggest vegetables at this year’s fair? Did the bakery still make the best snot-blocks in western Victoria? He’d hated when she called vanilla slices by their slang name, so she’d bought him one whenever she went into town when they were married. It had been their in-joke.

Chatting with him in the car, hot on the heels of their breakfast, made her think. She’d never thought people were capable of change, but it looked like Jack wasn’t the man she married. When she’d left, he’d been taciturn and inflexible. Now, he seemed to be communicative and open-minded, and was treating her better than she deserved. So for a fleeting second, as she pushed open the door to Samuel Nobil’s office, she wondered if she was doing the right thing in divorcing Jack.

Not that she’d ever consider moving back to Ashe Ridge—she valued her artistic life by the ocean too much—but seeing the new improved Jack filled her with regret. The main one being that she hadn’t been around to see Jack change. She couldn’t help but wonder: if she’d stayed, would she have been happy when Jack became the man she thought he could be?

A young woman she didn’t know, thank goodness, sat behind the receptionist’s desk, and glanced up when Adelaide entered.

‘Can I help you?’

Adelaide nodded. ‘I’d like to make an appointment to see Mr Nobil, please.’ She glanced at the open door with his nameplate. ‘He wouldn’t happen to have any free time now?’

The sooner she got the ball rolling, the better, before she lost her nerve.

The receptionist glanced at a computer screen and shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. He’s all booked for the rest of the week and the earliest appointment I can offer you is next Friday at eleven. Does that suit?’

Not really. It meant she’d have to stick around for another ten days. But she’d come this far, and she had a comfortable, rent-free place to stay courtesy of Jack, so she’d have to do it. Besides, it would be foolish to leave before they got divorce proceedings underway. Doing everything in person would be much easier than organising the signing of paperwork remotely, even though she assumed it could be done digitally these days.

‘That’s fine. Adelaide Hayes,’ she said, entering the appointment into her phone and adding a reminder. Not that she’d forget something as important as instigating her freedom officially.

‘We’ll see you then,’ the receptionist said, with a cool smile, before returning to her computer screen.

As Adelaide left the lawyer’s office, she intended on heading to the bakery for one of those famous snot-blocks. However, when she glanced across the street and glimpsed Jack through the open doors of the annexe, holding sway in front of a group of men, she hesitated. It was called Men’s Shed for a reason—women weren’t welcome.

But seeing Jack so animated, talking with his hands and throwing his head back and laughing, captivated Adelaide. She’d never seen him like that.

Drawn towards the annexe against her will, she stood near the door, just out of sight, and eavesdropped. She couldn’t quite hear what Jack was talking about, but the regular laughter from the other men warmed her heart.

It looked like the reserved man she’d married had found his tribe.

Unexpected tears burned her eyes, and she knuckled them away. She’d immersed herself in a new life and felt blessed she’d found herself after losing much of her identity after marrying, becoming a mother, and a grandmother. It had been a struggle initially, dealing with the guilt of walking away from Jack, but as the years passed she thought of him less and less, imagining him mired in the drudgery of the farm.

To find him living in her dream house, cooking up a storm, surrounded by friends who obviously cared about him, made her equal parts happy and sad. Happy that he’d been living a better life than the one she’d envisaged for him and sad because the man he was now was the man she’d always wished he could be.

As she turned away, her foot caught on a crack in the pavement and she stumbled, grabbing the door to steady herself. It moved fractionally and creaked, drawing Jack’s attention. Heat flooded her cheeks in embarrassment as he caught sight of her. But rather than his gaze radiating disapproval as she expected, Jack winked, and she raised her hand in a half-hearted wave before scurrying away.