Janis saw the two beers and decided to keep it short.

“Did she call?” she asked.

Todd thought about pretending he didn’t know who Janis meant. Then he thought again, and said, “Yes,” as briskly as he could.

“Good,” said Janis. “Then you know where we stand.”

“I suppose so,” Todd replied. He had no idea in fact where either of them stood, but he was going to let Janis do this for him, and so he kept his answers short.

“This house belongs to me, you know that,” Janis said. “You’re at fault in this situation, I guess you know that too.”

Todd said nothing.

“Any lawyer will tell you that you’ve got no chance of turning this around in your favor, so I wouldn’t waste your breath or your money.”

“We’ll see,” said Todd, and wondered why he’d said it.

“Fine, and good luck with that,” said Janis. “Now. I want you out of here, for reasons already stated. You can have six weeks to get your stuff together and get moved out of here. After that, I’ll pitch it.”

Todd turned around at that.

“Six weeks is plenty of time, Todd,” Janis said.

“Okay,” said Todd.

If Janis was disappointed at Todd’s lack of response, she didn’t register it. Instead she turned and left the room.

“You fucking cow,” Todd whispered to his beer.

*  *  *

Todd’s response to his wife’s advice was to ignore it. The very next day he went to see Pete Fenton, the man he called his lawyer. Pete wasn’t really Todd’s lawyer, but a few years back he’d advised Todd on a contract Todd had been offered by a vanity publishing company (he’d told Todd it was a piece of crap, but Todd signed it anyway, and then the company went bust), and Todd had been impressed by his frankness and his low rates.

Pete wasn’t pleased to see Todd, who he remembered without fondness, but he’d had an appointment make a late cancellation and it was a shame to waste the slot, so here they were, Pete telling Todd how it was, and Todd not being very happy with how it was.

“She’s got me by the balls,” Todd said.

“Others might see it differently,” said Pete. “Your wife’s character appears to be spotless. The sole difficulty a judge would have with her testimony is staying awake during a description of Janis’s day. Whereas you—”

Pete’s large hands spread.

“You’re a heavy drinker, you have affairs, you contribute nothing to the marriage… it’s a tough one. Even forty years ago, when a husband could do pretty much what he liked, you’d have had trouble fighting this one.”