Chapter 10: The Settlement, and the Last Thing Colleen Said
The attorneys met on a Thursday morning.
I wasn't in the room.
Renata was.
She called me at noon.
"They've agreed to a full buyout," she said.
"Ethan will refinance the house in his name alone and pay you half the current appraised value.
Given your seven years of equal mortgage contribution, the pre-marital property, and—" a brief pause that I understood to mean *the texts* "—the circumstances of the filing, they didn't push back."
I was standing in the parking lot of my office building.
Someone walked past me and said good morning.
I nodded.
"Half the appraised value," I said.
"Plus your personal property, fully itemized.
Plus legal fees." Renata's voice was even, professional, but I heard something underneath it.
Satisfaction, maybe.
"Brooke, it's a fair number.
It's more than fair."
"When do I sign?"
"I'll have the draft to you by Friday.
You can take the weekend to review it."
After I hung up, I stood in the parking lot for another minute.
The sun was out.
Someone's radio was playing in a car nearby, something I half-recognized.
I went back inside and worked the rest of the afternoon.
That evening, I was packing a box of books when my doorbell rang.
I looked through the peephole.
Colleen.
I opened the door but didn't step back to let her in.
She looked different than she had in the driveway.
Smaller, somehow, though she hadn't changed.
She was dressed the same way she always dressed — neat, controlled, nothing out of place.
"I'd like to talk," she said.
"There's nothing left to talk about, Colleen."
"I want to explain—"
"I've read your texts." I kept my hand on the door.
"I know what you told Sasha.
I know what you told Ethan.
I know what you planned and when you planned it and how you planned it." I looked at her.
"There's nothing to explain."
Her jaw tightened.
"I was protecting my son."
"You were controlling him.
There's a difference."
"He would have never done it on his own.
He needed—"
"He needed his mother to let him be an adult." My voice stayed level.
"Instead you ran his marriage the way you run your house.
Your rules.
Your timeline.
Your plan." I tilted my head slightly.
"How did that work out?"
The color rose in her face.
It was the first time I'd ever seen that.
"You have no idea what it took to raise him alone," she said.
"What I sacrificed.
He is everything I have."
"I know," I said.
And I meant it.
I did know.
I'd seen it for seven years without understanding what I was seeing.
"That's the saddest part of all of this, Colleen.
Not what you did to me.
What you did to him."
She stood on my porch and said nothing.
"Goodbye," I said.
I closed the door.
May you like
I stood in the hallway for a moment.
Then I went back to my box of books.
