Page 19 of The Me I Left Behind (Tuckaway Bay #4)

Ten

Julia answered on the first ring. “Mags. Hey. Got your message.”

“Do you have a clue what that was today? I mean, I have my suspicions, but I’m hoping you have facts.” Maggie shut the bedroom door behind her and wandered toward the window.

“I’m getting a handle on it. How are you doing?”

“I’ve had better days—and worse, obviously—but I’m good. Did you find out anything?”

“Are you home?”

Now she was worried. “I am. What’s going on, Julia?”

There was a slight pause from the other end.

“Mags, I spoke with Max’s attorney earlier in the day, before you called.

I got back in touch with him after I received your message.

He came clean with some information—apparently Max is hot on selling the house, for some unknown reason—but admittedly, the lawyer was clueless about the inspector.

He’s going to get back to me after he talks with Max. ”

“It’s the middle of the night there, so that means we’re waiting.”

“Approaching morning, I think. Might hear nothing for a few hours.”

Maggie stared out at the street. “Maybe it’s a good thing Max acted without consulting his attorney. He thinks he’s invincible, so perhaps we have that going for us.”

Julia laughed. “He’s not goddamned invincible. I can assure you of that.”

Maggie sighed, watching some kids playing in the yard across the street. Suddenly, she wished her kids were young again like that, and their days were carefree and easy.

Those days are gone. Their innocence is about to be undone.

“We have several things to talk about, Mags, and I don’t want to discuss any of it over the phone. I don’t trust that son-of-a-bitch. Can we meet halfway in the morning? Say ten o’clock? Where would be a good place?”

“Yes. I can leave after I drop the kids at school. Julia, is it bad news?”

Another pause. “Not necessarily. I officially told the attorney that we are filing for divorce, so to be ready. I’ve flung the possibility around before now, but it’s time. We’re just getting started, of course, but I want you to consider all the angles. Too much for a phone call.”

“Well, okay. Let me think. There’s really not much midway between Tuckaway Bay and here—just a bunch of small towns.”

“Maybe that’s better, to be honest. Surely, we can find one with a restaurant or at least a gas station. I’ll look and text you later.”

“Sure.”

“Talk soon.”

“Julia?

“Yes?”

“Am I screwed?”

“Not if I can help it.”

She knocked on Carol’s bedroom door and eased it open. Carol sat on her bed, propped up with pillows, looking at her tablet.

“Let’s go chat,” Maggie said. “With Jason and Chloe.”

Carol set the tablet aside. “How much are you going to say?”

With a shrug, Maggie whispered, “I have no clue. I guess I’m winging it.”

Meeting her at the door, Carol slipped a hand in hers. “Mom… I’ll help if you need me.”

Oh, this girl. She could be a pain in the ass, or the sweetest child ever, but she loved her to pieces either way.

Maggie tugged Carol into her arms and held her tight. “I’m sorry you’ve had to shoulder some of this with me. But I’m also very grateful to have you to lean on, occasionally. And you know you have me. Right?”

Pulling back, Carol searched her eyes. “Mom. I love you. I know we fight sometimes, but I love you.”

“I know that.” Maggie smiled and touched her cheek. “I love you too, sweetie. Now, let’s go do this.”

“I’ll get Chloe.”

“Thank you.”

Maggie rapped on Jason’s door. She knew better than to go in without him saying it was okay. He didn’t respond immediately, so she knocked again. “Jason?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you come out, please?”

She waited a few long seconds. Carol and Chloe headed downstairs. Finally, Jason came to the door.

“We’re all heading downstairs. Let’s have that talk.”

The look in his eyes told her he was curious, frightened, and maybe heartbroken already. She knew exactly how that felt. She wanted to hug him, hold him like he was her little baby boy, and stroke his cheek with feathery touches—but that would not happen.

Jason brushed her arm as he passed.

She followed him down the stairs.

All three sat together on the sofa, Chloe in the middle, Carol and Jason like bookends.

Jason put his arm around his little sister, creating a protective cocoon for Chloe. Maggie’s heart warmed as Chloe looked up and searched her big brother’s eyes. Carol leaned closer to them, too, but stared at the floor, her hands clasped in front of her.

Maggie couldn’t say who she was worried about more—she was concerned about all three equally, but in different ways. Pulling up a side chair, she parked herself in front of them so she could see all three faces at once.

“Just get it over with, Mom,” Jason said.

Maggie inhaled deeply, then let the breath go, easing out some of her anxiety with it. She hoped, anyway. “Alright. Let me just say some things and then you can ask questions.”

“Sure, Mom,” Carol said.

Chloe stared ahead, biting her lip.

“I spoke with Julia, who talked with your dad’s attorney earlier this evening.”

“Wait,” Jason interrupted. “Dad has an attorney, too?”

“Well, yes.” Suddenly, she realized she’d probably jumped the gun a little, had gotten ahead of herself. “Just hold that thought for a minute, can you? I’ll get there in a minute.”

Jason leaned back and sighed, looking away.

She continued. “Apparently, the inspector was here today because your dad wants to sell the house. He didn’t tell me that, of course, so it was a surprise to me.”

“But why?” Jason asked. “Why does he want to sell the house? Are we getting a new one?”

She breathed in and out again. Slowly. “No. We are not getting a new house. I believe your father wants to sell because he either wants the money, or he wants to punish me.”

“No. Dad has money.” Jason’s face screwed up, questioning. “What did you do to him, Mom?”

“She didn’t do a damn thing, Jason. It’s all Dad.”

He twisted to look at her. “How do you know that?”

Maggie leaned forward. “Kids. Stop. Listen to me. Please? Just listen for a minute.”

Jason closed his eyes, as if he were trying to block it all out.

Chloe’s arms snaked around Jason’s waist.

Bracing herself, Maggie started in again, knowing she didn’t want to stop until she’d said everything she wanted to say.

“Kids, your father and I haven’t gotten along for a long time.

There are a lot of reasons for that, and I will not go into them right now.

Maybe when you are older. What you need to know is that we are getting a divorce.

That’s one reason your dad has been spending the past few months in Australia.

It’s true he started a new business in Brisbane, and needs to be there right now, but it’s also because he and I do not want to live together any longer. ”

Jason stared. “So, it’s not just work. It’s an official divorce.”

“Yes.”

“Then, you lied.” His stare was intense.

“I wasn’t ready to talk to you kids about it yet. And as the adult here, that was my prerogative.”

Jason ignored that. “What about us? Me, Carol, and Chloe? Don’t we get a say? What happens to us?”

“Of course, you do.” She let go of another sigh.

This is going to get difficult before it gets easier.

“In a way. Look. I’m going to be as honest with you as I can be.

I don’t know a lot yet. Julia is handling the divorce, and part of that is custody.

And yes, your dad has an attorney, too, to handle his end of things.

That’s the way it works. To answer your question, Jason, I don’t know exactly what will happen.

Sometimes in a divorce, the kids live with one parent full-time and visit the other on weekends and holidays.

Sometimes there is joint custody, where the kids spend, say, a week at one parent’s house, then a week at the other. But I think you all know that already.”

“We do, Mom. Friends…” Carol offered.

“That sort of sucks, doesn’t it?” Jason said. “What about school and stuff?”

Geez, she hadn’t expected to go there yet. “While I don’t want this to happen, if your dad doesn’t pay for private school, then you’ll have to go to the public school. I won’t be able to afford it.”

Jason glared. “Well, if you’d worked before now, maybe you could afford it.”

“Your dad didn’t want me to work, Jason.”

“Right.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” She studied him. Obviously, he was tearing himself up inside, rolling over all this information. Yet, she knew he’d been moody and stewing on something for a while now, so perhaps getting it out in the open was a good thing.

He glanced off, apparently thinking. “What if Dad doesn’t live in the same school district, or he wants us to go to a different school than you do? How does that work? We can’t go to two schools.”

“No, you can’t.” She reached for his hand, but he pulled away.

Instead, she touched his knee. “Jason, these are legit questions. All that has to be worked out between your dad and me and the lawyers. The thing is, as long as he is living in Australia, which is a different country, the judge will probably say that you should live full time with me, and you can visit him on vacations.”

“Geez, Mom. Whatever you did to piss him off, you sure weren’t thinking of us, were you? You’ve totally screwed up our lives.”

Of all the things she had mentally prepared herself for, Jason’s words—him blaming her—were not among them. She choked back a sob and looked away.

Carol scooted to the edge of the couch, leaning toward her brother.

“Jason! That’s total bullshit. Mom didn’t do anything.

You know how Dad treats her. You know how he treats us.

Whenever he can get a dig in, he does. If he wants to slap us around, he does that too.

And Mom has had enough of it. You got that? So just shut the fuck up.”

“Carol…” Maggie grasped her arm.

“No, Mom. He needs to know the truth.”

Jason sat, staring at the wall. “The truth? Right. No one is telling the truth here.”