One Ring (Suncoast Society #28)(16)

“I took exactly half of what was in the savings account, and in the joint checking account. Although, technically, since I made more than him, I should have been entitled to more.”

“Maybe, but good luck arguing that in court if it’s even close. Judges like simplicity.”

“I don’t think he believes I’m filing for divorce,” she said. “I think he thinks this is some phase that I’ll grow out of.”

“That’s not uncommon,” he said. “Denial by the spouse getting served. Or he likely thinks it’s some sort of attention-grabbing tactic on your part.”

“You might be right. He even sort of laughed when he signed my car title last night, like he was humoring me.”

“What’d he say about the bank accounts?”

“I haven’t told him yet. We each had our own spending accounts that the other can’t access. They were left over from when we were single, before we got together. He probably hasn’t even looked at the bank accounts yet. I did it last night. I filed paperwork on Monday with my job to send my direct deposit to that account instead of the joint account, and that next paycheck won’t hit until next Friday. It’s like he’s not taking this seriously.”

“He’s not. Not right now. What about your stuff?”

“I rented a storage unit yesterday. And everyone’s meeting me over at the house at noon today to move. But I was going through stuff yesterday while he was at work, getting ready, you know? You’d think after fifteen years together that I’d have more stuff to take. Most of the furniture I don’t want. It was stuff he picked out and I let him. I’d rather get my own. I packed my dishes and stuff that I wanted, my clothes, pictures, books, DVDs, all of that. But I didn’t realize until the time came to do this that I’ve let him pretty much direct my whole life.”

“Funny how that works, huh?” He stopped and took his glasses off to meet her gaze. “Sorry, I shouldn’t make light of it like that, but this isn’t anything I haven’t seen before with divorces, unfortunately.”

“When did this happen to me? I didn’t realize how I pretty much rolled over to him on everything all through our marriage. If there was something our opinions differed on, pro or con, he’d basically badger me, or piss and moan, or even pout, until I gave in and did things his way. He didn’t really bully me, either. It just got easier to give in. I guess I got into a habit of automatically giving in without even thinking about it. What the hell is up with that?”

“Again, not uncommon. One partner wants to keep the peace and subverts themselves, their personality, even. It can happen with little things, or on an abusive level.”

“He never abused me,” she quickly said. “Consensually or not. He never laid a finger on me.”

“Mentally?”

“Not really, no. Yeah, he reacted badly when I confronted him a few weeks ago about how bad things were between us, but it’s not like he called me a lot of names or bullied me around.”

“I thought you said he called you ‘sick’ for liking romance and BDSM books?”

“Well…” She stopped to think.

Yeah, that was pretty much exactly what he’d said. “But it was just about that. Not about everything.”

“You sure?”

She started to say yes, then thought about it.

Thought really hard.

She let out a sigh. “Okay, he wasn’t abusive, but he wasn’t exactly the most sensitive of guys throughout our marriage. I get it.”

“Really? I hope so. I don’t like to see my clients make repeat mistakes. I don’t give out punch cards for discounts to pay for three divorces and get a fourth free.” He smiled.

That finally pulled a laugh from her. “Really?”

“No shit, one guy, I’m working divorce number five for him. At least after number two he got smart and made them sign pre-nups like I begged him to.”

“Holy cow.”

“Yeah. That about sums it up.”

She started thinking while Ed was writing. “Should I get a pre-nup if I get married again?”

“I would encourage you to do so, yes.”

“I guess one of the guys I met this past weekend, Don, he doesn’t believe in marriage.”

Ed laughed. “No, Don is smarter than the average Dom. He practices catch and release until he eventually finds the right one. He does it ethically, and he doesn’t cheat on his partners. It’s not my preferred method of operation, but I can’t fault him for it.”

“He and Carl both seemed nice.”

Ed had slipped his glasses back on. Now he eyed her over the top of the rims. “You haven’t even filed for divorce yet. I would strongly suggest not getting involved with anyone until you’ve had a little decompression time. Not to mention, you don’t want to be in the middle of a legal battle while you’re trying to meet new people. Take your time. Playing is fine as long as you don’t let yourself get tied up in a bad situation. Eh, no pun intended.”

“What about Carl and Don? Are they safe?”

“I’d say so, yes. There are several guys who are regulars at the club I’d feel comfortable introducing you to. Don and Carl are just two of them.”

“Okay. Thanks.”