Page 121 of The Me I Left Behind

“Um, the 90s maybe? We weren’t even born in the 70s.”

“Sidebar convo!” Alice interjected. “But what about Max?”

“I don’t even have a clue, nor do I care,” Maggie said. “I’m just happy he didn’t spoil my daughter’s graduation.”

“I can fill in the blanks,” Julia said, looking at Maggie. If you want to go there. I didn’t want to say anything earlier, with all the graduation hype, but I have some news if you want to hear it now. Or we can wait until later.”

Maggie took a gulp of her margarita and leaned toward Julia. “These people,” she waved her arm. “Thesewomen, all of you, are my emotional support people. Share away, please?” She reached out her hands. Alice took one, and Lia grasped the other.

Julia smiled. “There’s good news, actually. So far, anyway.”

“Shoot me straight, Jules.” Her head was getting a little dizzy.Margaritas, do your stuff.

“Alright. First, Max agreed to ‘no contact’ with you or the children until there is a settlement about custody and the divorce is final. He realizes I am poised to file charges and a restraining order against him for January, and for last week, should he violate the verbal agreement. So, you shouldn’t have to worry about him coming to the house.”

Maggie blew out a sigh. “Great. What else?”

“He’s backing off on selling the house for now, so the sign can come down—but he still wants to keep that on the table for down the road. That buys you time.”

Maggie thought that was fine. “I hate to think about moving from this house, but I know selling it is likely inevitable. I can’t afford it. But you are right, this buys time.”

Julia nodded. “Yes. And we agreed to let him have the Escalade, as you know. That’s a plus in your column for being reasonable. He also wants to come at some point and get clothing and other personal items. We will work out those details. You and the kids cannot be here when it happens, but I will be.”

“What about custody?”

Julia smiled. “It’s still an item. We want full custody. So does Max. It’s truly unreasonable for the judge to move in his favor.”

“I can’t believe he thinks he can do the work he does, traveling and everything, and raise kids, too. Idiot.”

Julia nodded. “That’s one factor. He is ready to play hardball, though.”

“Such as?”

“He suggested, through his lawyer, of course, that he wants psychological evaluations done on all three children, and on you. He cited the history of mental illness in the family again and suggested that the children do not want to be with you. That the children have suffered from your instability over the years. I told him evaluations were fine, as long as he paid for them, and as long as a professional of our choosing also evaluated him.”

Maggie felt a little tug at her heart. She didn’t want to put her kids through any kind of testing. Not that what they might say about her was a concern, but that it might be traumatic for them. “What did he say?”

“He didn’t budge on the kids. Refused evaluation for himself.”

“Shit.”

“He is going to keep pushing it—until I pull the right cards.”

Maggie leaned closer. “But we have those cards. Right?”

A wicked grin broke over Julia’s face. “You bet your sweet ass. We were on a video conference call this morning. Max, his attorney, and me. I told them you were busy with graduation details, which was understood. I requested a laundry list of things regarding custody, school, college, and sports expenses, plus health insurance, and the like. I requested supervised visitation once a month, if he was in the country. I specifically said the children were not to leave the country without your permission.”

“And what did he say to that?”

“Oh, he laughed.”

“Bastard.”

“But not for long. You should have seen his face when I told him, and the attorney, that should he not agree with our demands, and drop his silly notions of mental illness and psychological examinations, then I would have no other recourse but to bring up the Carolyn Oliver wrongful death lawsuit and his negligent drunken behavior which lead to her death, in addition to the assaults on you and Carol and Jason. And that if he persisted, we would make sure all the above was public knowledge and that his concubine in Australia would learn all about it.”

“You really said concubine?” Maggie asked.

Julia laughed. “No. I just call her that in my head.”