Chapter 5

I spent the rest of the weekend dreading the upcoming week. Monday was the first sit-down with Terri’s lawyers, where I was going to find out just how badly I was getting screwed. The guy she was banging must have been a lawyer or had some powerful friends, because the email I’d received came from one of the biggest firms in the city. I, on the other hand, had to shell out for a guy who I was pretty sure nearly failed out of night school to get his degree. I’d at least hoped my guy would have negotiated a more convenient place for us to meet, or some kind of remote conference, but no. I had to go back up to New York City, which added to my anxiety all weekend.

Getting a bus back to Charleston looked to be impossible, so I finally agreed to let my dad give me a ride back to the airport, although I put my foot down about getting a ride back, since buses from the airport were easier to catch. Thankfully, Dad was the one to take me. He might not be the most loving man, but his terse manners made for a much less infuriating car ride. We talked about sports for a bit before both going quiet, passing the rest of the trip in silence.

The plane trip itself wasn’t so bad, although it was hard to bend my leg enough to get into the seat at the back of the airplane, and my knee throbbed the whole time. By the time I finally made it to the downtown skyscraper her lawyers’ offices were in, I’d been traveling for half of the day and I was both exhausted and in pain. The receptionist led me past a dozen lawyers in suits that cost more than I’d made in a month on the force and into a stark but still somehow elegant conference room that was empty except for my lawyer, who’d beaten me to the meeting. In his cheap suit and badly tied tie, he was a stark contrast to everything around him.

While we waited, well past the time the meeting was scheduled to start, I tried to ask him questions about what they were going to ask for and how much this was going to end up costing, but as usual, he seemed a bit clueless. Had I been able to afford anyone better, I would have fired the guy the day I’d met him, but this was one of those ‘you get what you pay for’ situations.

Finally, Terri, her lawyer, and a small army of minions came pouring into the conference room. I couldn’t decide if it was Terri being chronically late as usual or some kind of tactic devised by her attorney, but either way, we’d been waiting here for a while and I was starting to lose my temper.

“It’s about time,” I said, not standing up or shaking anyone’s hands.

“We apologize for the delay, Mr. Brewer. We wanted to speak with our client first and make sure we had a firm understanding of the best way to get this unfortunate business settled as painlessly as possible for everyone.”

It was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes. If I’d stopped this guy on the street while I was still a cop, he’d definitely be the ‘do you know who I am’ kind of asshole who thought the rest of the world was made just for him. I also couldn’t help but notice how close Terri was to him. She’d scooted over a little bit as soon as they’d both sat down, so the arms of their chairs were touching, and she was leaning in a little. We’d been together long enough that I knew her body language pretty well, and everything I knew about her screamed that she was sleeping with this guy. Of course, it was impossible to tell if this was the guy she’d been sleeping with all along or if this was something new, although he probably had the money and lifestyle that Terri was looking for, so it wouldn’t surprise me.

Although I’m pretty sure she saw the expression on my face as I looked back and forth between the two of them, the lawyer seemed clueless as he waited for me to thank him for how efficiently he planned on bleeding me dry.

“Great,” I said, deadpan.

“I’d like to start off this conversation by just getting down to the meat of it. In most divorce cases, there’s a lot of he said, she said with accusations of all kinds of misdeeds going back and forth. I know that usually makes everyone feel better, since these kinds of things are always contentious, but in the end, they don’t change the calculations for exactly how to best dissolve the marriage. I find it better to skip the animosity and just focus on what needs to be done. I am obligated to ask, are you both sure this is what you want? I’m not a counselor, but these kinds of proceedings can be painful, so I like to start by asking if you’re sure you both want to go through with this.”

“Absolutely,” I said, glaring at Terri.

“F•©k you,” was her response.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but her lawyer put his hand on her arm, stopping her.

“Okay. I just wanted to get that done before we moved forward. Now, I’ve spoken with Mrs. Brewer and I want you to know that we aren’t looking to cause you undue hardships. I know it’s easy to look across this table and think ‘this guy just wants to take me for a ride,’ which is probably true in a lot of divorce cases. While I am Mrs. Brewer’s attorney, I find these things go better if we don’t focus on causing pain and just try to find an equitable solution, making sure everyone gets what they need to go their separate ways.”

“Sounds great,” I said, although my tone of voice still didn’t match the other words.

He was slick, I had to give it to him, but he’d basically managed to say nothing in a whole lot of words, and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, because I knew damn well Terri didn’t give a crap about anyone but her getting what she needed.

“In that spirit,” he continued, not seeming to notice, or maybe just not caring that I wasn’t buying his little speech. “I thought it best if, instead of taking things straight to mediation, we see if we can’t get this all worked out here today. Mrs. Brewer has agreed to a no-fault divorce, forgoing any marital support or even any claims on shared bank accounts, allowing each party to take whatever assets they currently have in their possession and go their separate ways.”

“Really?” I said, surprised.

On the face of it, that actually wasn’t that good of a deal. After cleaning out our shared accounts, she’d left me with a lease to buy out of and some crap furniture, so she was still coming out way ahead. But it also meant there wouldn’t be a fight back and forth, depositions, talking to mediators, or any of that nonsense, which also meant I could pay my lawyer off for this one meeting and be done with it. Considering that, even if everything went my way, this would basically be the same deal I’d end up with, except with the added cost of owing a stack of cash to my lawyer. If I could get the same deal without that, I’d take it in a heartbeat. I just had trouble believing she’d go for it.

“Really. I know you two are upset with each other, but we aren’t the enemy here. Everyone wants this situation to be resolved as quickly and easily as possible. There is, however, one caveat that, if we can agree on it, we could walk out of this office today, with everything settled and signed off on.”

“What is it?” I said, knowing that this was the other shoe.

I mentally kicked myself for being momentarily hopefully, even with reservations.

“There’s the issue of a vehicle purchased by the two of you while you were married, that Mrs. Brewer has an equal claim to. Instead of fighting it out in court for this car that’s been in storage for several years, save a few periodic trips for maintenance, we are suggesting you sign over the car and, in return, Mrs. Brewer signs an agreement today agreeing to a no-fault divorce.”

“You should really consider that,” my lawyer said, leaning over to whisper to me.

“The hell I will,” I said, not quite yelling, but getting close to it, before turning my attention to Terri. “You’re dreaming if you think you’re getting my car. You don’t even like cars that much, so what the hell do you want with mine?”

“Because it’s the only thing you have worth a damn,” she yelled back, half standing up to lean over the table in my direction. “Had I known I was marrying a broke-ass mother-f•©ker, I would’ve stayed with Dave Shupert.”

The only reaction her lawyer had to her outburst was to put his hand on her forearm, which had the effect of making her sit back down, but otherwise acted as if it never happened.

“I think it would be worth reconsidering that stance, Mr. Brewer. Your wife is entitled to her portion of the marital assets, and that includes your current guaranteed severance from the city. We are hoping to avoid an extended, and expensive, court battle that will ultimately end in further costs to you. We are offering to forgo targeting your severance and any alimony or future considerations for a car that you haven’t driven in years, the net worth of which is significantly lower than the amount you would have to pay if mediation, or a court judgment, goes against you. Which is, again, not even taking into account the legal costs you would endure over that time period. Any mediator who hears our offer would find it more than equitable, and see that Mrs. Brewer is being completely reasonable in her offer.”

“Why should I pay her anything. The bitch cheated on me.”

I could see him squeeze her arm again, probably to keep her in her seat, which was another suggestion of how well he actually knew her, since it took almost nothing to set her off.

“If you try to argue infidelity, you’re going to have to prove it, and we both know you don’t have any. I understand you are upset with the situation, and if you want to reject this offer, that is your prerogative, but you should consult with your lawyer, because any choice other than agreeing with us is just going to cost you more money than the car is worth.”

My lawyer was making eyes at me, and I knew he thought I should just settle. If I had a better lawyer, maybe I would have stood a chance to fight her, but unless my knees magically recovered and I got back into the NFL, that wasn’t going to happen. And I couldn’t go Terri’s route and sleep my way into one of the best law firms in the city.

I sat quietly, brooding, not even paying attention to her lawyer anymore as he continued to pepper me with reasons why I should take the deal. It made perfect sense why he was working so hard to get me to just sign over the car. If she was a paying client, they’d probably be pushing for trial so they could bill her for every cent she had, but since he was probably bankrolling this himself, he just wanted her happy and this whole thing over.

The problem was, he was right. I knew what my lawyer was charging for this, and his rates would go up if we went to a mediator and even more if we went to court. The car was worth some money, but it wasn’t in pristine condition yet. I’d made a lot of progress on it in the last several years, but it would have been another five years of off and on weekends before it was back to its original shape, which meant it still had to be sold off as a project car, which lowered its price tag.

Of course, that was another reason why I knew the only reason Terri was doing this was to get to me. She wasn’t going to make a lot of money selling it and she definitely wasn’t going to keep it, since she’d always hated that car. She just wanted to hurt me and knew this was one of the few ways she had to get to me.

The longer I thought about it, the more I found myself stuck. I loved the car and had longed to have it to the point where I could drive it for long road trips, but I also wanted this whole ordeal done and behind me. I wanted Terri out of my life, and if I fought this it was going to be more trips back here, seeing her for mediation, depositions, and court.

“Fine. She can have it, but she has to pay off the rest of the storage lot contract,” I said.

Buying out my lease on the storage spot wasn’t actually all that much money, but I wanted to be able to save a little dignity out of this whole situation.

“I’ll be...” she started to say, before he squeezed again.

“I think that will be fine. We’ll have final agreements sent to your attorney, and once everything is signed we will pick up the title and keys. And that will be, as they say, that.”

“Fine,” I said, getting up and walking out.

I’d already had to pay for my lawyer, so the least he could do was finish up that bullshit without me. I might not have loved being back home, but I couldn’t get out of this city fast enough. Everything about the place reminded me of Terri now, which just made me more pissed off.

Since I didn’t want to be in the city any longer than I had to, I was flying out later but still had several hours till my flight back, so I decided to stop by the station on my way to the airport. Although I’d never really loved the job, I’d made some friends over the years that it would be good to see them. There was also some paperwork that they’d said I needed to finish and I figured I could save myself the hassle of having to mail it back and checking to see if it made it to the right place.

Making my way carefully up the front steps of the precinct was a weird experience. For two years I’d gone through these doors five or six days a week and worked so many doubles I swear there were days I’d spent more time there than I did at home. Walking through the doors now, it felt completely different. It looked like the place I remembered, but I didn’t fit in there anymore.

This was carried over even further when the desk sergeant, a man I didn’t know, saw me making my way towards the door that led into the back of the station and said, “Can I help you?”

He looked annoyed, like I was going to be a problem that he’d have to deal with.

“I used to work here and they needed me to fill out some paperwork about my injury,” I said, pointing at my knee.

It was actually paperwork about my severance, but I felt like being a dick and wanted to make him feel bad for hassling someone injured on the job. At least, that’s what I’d been going for.