Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kim
Kim sets the phone on the counter and listens as her hands work preparing Bella’s school lunch.
“—and we’re going out again on Friday. Dinner this time,” Suze says.
“Three dates in a week? Things are moving faster,” Kim says.
Suze hums. “It feels right. We’ve both been burned. His ex-wife uses his kids as bargaining chips. I sense a lot of bad vibes when he talks about her. That’s a bit of a beige flag, to be honest.”
“So no overnights yet?”
“No. I can’t dive into anything like this anymore, Kim, not without a lot of thought. Two months of thought in this case. I can’t put Jorie into anything that might not work out.”
“But how can you know? There’s no guarantee of a happily ever after. How long do you wait?”
“I know.” Suze sighs. “Look at you and Chris. That’s a strange, fucked-up situation if ever there was one.”
“That’s different.” Kim spreads the bread with mayo and adds ham, sliced tomato, and lettuce. “The chances of your Tyson being another Chris are what? A million to one? Higher?”
“True. But I’m still wary.”
“Does Jorie want to come for a sleepover on Friday?” Kim asks. “I’ll be home.”
“That would be fantastic. Jorie would love it. Also, the only time she eats veggies is at your house.”
“The trick is to put them on pizza. Kids don’t look past the cheese.”
“Well, it works. It’s the only half-serve of her five-a-day that she gets.”
“Jorie can come home with us after school. Then you can primp and shave for your hot date.”
“No shaving,” Suze says. “If I don’t shave, I won’t sleep with him, as I’ll be too embarrassed by my 1970s-style body hair.”
Kim laughs, but her mind flies back to Danika and her lack of pubic grooming. No embarrassment there; Danika in a natural state had been a huge turn on. Strike that. Danika was a huge turn on.
But apart from a couple of texts about nothing in particular, she’s heard nothing from Danika since the weekend. Since they slept together. Since the fat wedge of money had jammed between them.
She’s done nothing about it since. And that is the sticking point, as she’s sure Danika is giving her time to think about how she wants to proceed.
“Do you know a good family lawyer?” Her words cut across Suze’s chatter about whether to dress sexy and seductive or cool and casual for her date.
A silence. “Kim, why the hell do you need a family lawyer?”
“Remember I told you about Chris’s lack of a will? Well, Danika made me an offer.” It all comes spilling out.
“Fucking hell,” Suze says. “I hope you’re writing all this down. Hollywood called, and they want their script back.”
It’s too close to home to laugh.
“But that is one hell of an offer,” Suze continues. “She could not have told you. Or told you, but in a what-the-hell-can-I-do-about-it-way. Why do you think you need a lawyer?”
“Too complicated. I’d like to try it without, but I think Danika wants a more formal agreement.”
“I get that. Divorces that try to sort it out informally always end up with one person getting screwed.” Suze sounds bitter, with good reason.
“My shit of an ex managed to convince me that my twelve-year-old VW was worth the same as his two-year-old truck. I should have lawyered up. So I get why you think you need to.”
“Can you think of anyone? Someone who’s a decent human, and fair.”
“I can’t, but I’ll ask around if you want.”
“That would be great, but please don’t say who it’s for.”
“No worries.”
After a bit more chat, and the decision for Suze to go cool and casual for her date, they end the call.
Kim flops onto the couch. There are a hundred things she should do: finish Bella’s lunch, drag her out of bed, sort the paperwork for her job tomorrow, tidy the apartment.
She sighs. She should change the sheets on the bed, but she can’t bring herself to.
Danika’s scent is all over them, the perfume of sex.
Every night since, she’s lain in bed, pulling the sheet up to her face so she can smell Danika and remember.
The ever-present hollowness in her abdomen reminds her of how it was. How good. How hard she’d come, and how often. Her stomach muscles had ached the next day, as if she’d done fifty sit-ups.
Her phone alarm goes off. Time to wake Bella, who’ll be delighted about Jorie’s sleepover. Maybe she’ll want Cami to come too. Maybe Danika will stay over as well.
Enough.
Kim goes to wake Bella. There is no way Danika will do any such thing. Not until they resolve their dilemma. And maybe not even then.
Maybe money—too much and not enough—will break apart what had barely started.
Kim manages to persuade Bella that Jorie would like to have her BFF to herself, so they don’t invite Cami to the sleepover.
Now, Kim lies on the couch in her flannel pyjamas with a glass of wine and listens to the giggles and thumps from Bella’s room.
You’d think that after a couple of hours of hobby-horsing and soccer practice in the park, followed by the demolition of an enormous homemade veggie pizza, then a movie, they’d be asleep to beat the dead.
But it’s eleven and they’re still going strong.
Unlike her.
She picks up her phone, scrolls to Danika’s last text from earlier in the day. One she hasn’t answered as she simply doesn’t know what to say.
Please don’t think I’m ignoring you because I want to. I’m giving you space to decide what to do. I miss you, and I miss what we had.
She starts a text, deletes it. Tries again.
I miss you too. And I’m no closer to figuring out what is best. Suze thinks I should get a lawyer. But I wish we could just work it out.
The phone is silent, then the bouncing three dots start as Danika types.
Mum thinks I should get a lawyer too. She’s the most trusting soul—except when it comes to contracts. She is a real estate agent, after all. But I have an idea. What if we were to
The text cuts off. What if we were to…what? What was Danika about to say? Kim waits. The dots bounce. Jorie shrieks, and Bella’s giggle joins in.
Sorry. Accidental send. What if we were to agree on a lawyer, one we both trust, and instruct them to calculate a fair division and then draw up a contract? One lawyer, acting for both of us. Is that possible?
Kim stares at the phone. She has no idea if a lawyer can act for opposing parties, but surely it’s possible.
If they both trust the lawyer and can reach a settlement—that has to be better.
Such a contract would be binding, and hopefully watertight.
The last thing either of them needs is more hassles in the years to come.
Maybe. I’m open to looking at that idea. Do you have a lawyer in mind?
Can I call you?
Jorie’s here on a sleepover, and they’re both still awake. I don’t want the kids to overhear.
No worries. Do you remember Noa from soccer camp last year?
Mirza talked to one of her mums. Sarah used a family lawyer when she was involved in a custody battle with her ex’s parents.
It was a nasty situation. She apparently had a fantastic lawyer who was fair but didn’t let the other side get away with anything.
I thought of him. Alan Doodson of Doodson and Lee.
Kim finds his website. Alan Doodson has a shock of brown hair streaked with grey that falls over his forehead.
He’s smiling slightly, but it’s warm, not an overwide, teeth-flashing, used-car-salesman smile.
Kim studies his photo. He inspires trust. She reads his bio, which is impressive, and includes all matters of family law, as well as wills and estates. Perfect.
She switches back to the messaging app.
Let’s meet him and see what we think after that.
Danika’s reply comes instantly.
Meet with him together would be best, I think. That way we’ll be equal from the start.
Yes. Do you want to call him? You have the connection.
There’s a minute before Danika replies.
I’ll call on Monday and let you know. Any any days you can’t do?
They discuss arrangements for a few minutes. The need to say more, something that will take them back to how they were, pulses in Kim’s chest. Would that be breaking their tacit agreement to put all that they could be aside until the big issues have been sorted? But she can’t just let it go.
I still sleep with you every night. You’re here in the dent of the pillow you used, in your scent on the sheets. I hope, when this is resolved, we can pick up where we left off.
She waits, staring at the phone. There are no bouncing dots.
More giggles from the bedroom, but they’re softer now, as if the kids are sliding toward sleep. Finally.
I’d like that too. That night was something special for me. I don’t want to go back to how I was. You’ve given me the freedom to try, Kim. And I want to try with you, if you still want that.
She wants that. Oh, how she does. Her fingers fumble, and she makes typo after typo as she tries to send a fast reply. Because letting Danika think she’s indifferent to the two of them is the last thing she wants.
I do want that. I care about you so much. I want whatever we can be.
For a moment, there’s no reply, but then a string of hearts appears.
The pressure in Kim’s chest, a tension that’s been there since she and Danika started this discussion, eases just a fraction. A lawyer who sounds human.
A potential way forward.