“Don’t argue with me,” Phil said. “Get your brother and let’s go.” As soon as the door was closed, his attention returned to Lina. “I’ll have the separation agreement drawn up this week. Try to refrain from seeing him until it’s signed.”

“I’m not.”

“Don’t bother lying to me. The truth is all over your face.”

Chapter 40

40

Lina set a manila folder on the table at the café where she was meeting Adele for lunch and sat down, her mind still reeling from her meeting with the divorce attorney. “A glass of Chardonnay,” she said as soon as a waitress appeared.

“I’ll have the same,” Adele said as she rushed up and pulled out a chair. “Well?” She looked expectantly at Lina. “What did she say?”

“She said in her twenty-five years of experience as a divorce attorney she’d never seen a more generous offer, and he either loves me beyond reason or he’s crazy. But regardless of why, that I should sign it immediately before he changes his mind.”

“Good,” Adele said, nodding. “I’m glad he did what was right.”

“He’s going to continue to pay the mortgage and take care of the maintenance on the house until Logan graduates from college, and then we’ll sell it or I can buy him out. He’s also giving me half of all our other assets, paying all school tuition, plus child support and alimony, until Logan graduates from college. She said if I wasn’t extravagant and hired the right financial planner, I wouldn’t require much additional income and could retire by sixty.”

“Wow.” Adele sat back in her chair. “I suppose I should stop calling him a bastard, but he’s giving you nothing more than what you deserve. He doesn’t want the kids to have to move, and that’s what would happen if he insisted on splitting the house now.”

“True. Thank you,” she said to the waitress before bringing her wine glass to her lips. “I’m literally shaking.”

“I can see that. Why?”

“I just—going to a lawyer and talking about severing all ties to Phil. It’s something I never considered.” She took another swallow of wine. “A year ago I wouldn’t have believed it possible.”

“Oh my God,” Adele said. “You’re a mess.”

“Just a little. He’s barely acknowledged me since he accused me of dating Nick, so I was expecting him to not—I don’t know—not to be so generous. And that part’s a relief, but at the same time I’m sad. He was more than my husband. He was my friend, and that’s gone. I’ve lost my best friend.”

“You have me.”

“Thank God for that. I couldn’t survive without you.”

“And Phil will come back around. Once you’re divorced and you’ve moved on with your lives, he’ll become civil again.”