Chapter Eleven: The Aftermath
She didn’t sign that night.
Ernest hadn’t expected her to. He moved his belongings out of the townhouse over the weekend — Marcus and another friend helping him load furniture, books, clothes. All the accumulated pieces of a life he’d thought was permanent.
Kelly wasn’t there.
She’d gone to stay with Jessica. Avoiding the whole process.
On Monday morning, Patricia called with news.
“Kelly’s attorney reached out. She said they want to negotiate.”
“What are they proposing?”
“Thirty thousand dollars plus two years of limited alimony at fifteen hundred a month. Essentially, they want you to pay her sixty-six thousand total to go away quietly.”
Ernest felt anger flare in his chest.
“She’s not entitled to that.”
“I know. I told them our offer stands. But here’s the interesting part. Her attorney mentioned that Kelly has been struggling. Apparently, the reality of her situation is setting in.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that the life she thought she was going to fund with your money is evaporating. She can’t afford the townhouse on her own. She’s going to have to move — probably into a small apartment. Her yoga income is around two thousand a month, which in Charlotte isn’t much. She built her whole exit strategy around walking away with a substantial nest egg. And now she’s facing the reality of actually having to support herself on her own income.”
Ernest should have felt satisfaction.
Mostly he just felt tired.
“So what happens now?”
“We wait. She has to accept reality eventually. The recording is too damaging, and she knows it.”
The waiting was harder than he’d anticipated.
He’d moved into a one-bedroom apartment in the same general area. Furnished it with the basics. Tried to settle into a new routine. Work became a refuge — at least there, things made sense. Had predictable outcomes.
But everywhere he went, he saw pieces of his old life.
The coffee shop where he and Kelly used to grab lattes on Sunday mornings. The hiking trail they’d walked dozens of times. The movie theater where they’d had their first date six years ago, when everything had seemed possible.
It was Jessica who finally broke the stalemate.
