Pineapple Street(27)
Sasha yanked her clothing back on, angry at Mullin and angry with herself. As she lay awake in bed that night, having dropped Mullin at his own house, she wondered if it really was an accident or if Mullin wanted her back home, wanted to find a way to keep her here with him.
When her period was two days late, she went to campus health for a pregnancy test. It came back negative, and she cried, great heaving sobs, the sobs of exhaustion and anger and relief and probably also hormones, because her period came the next day.
Of course, she never told anyone in her family that story. Her mother would be furious with her for having unprotected sex; she would ban Mullin from the house. She had no idea how her father and brothers would react, but part of her suspected they would find her at fault. And it was her fault. She trusted someone who didn’t have her best interests at heart.
* * *
—
While it hurt Sasha that her family seemed unable to accept her breakup with Mullin, she was also moved by the way they made room for him. They saw his own family was lacking, and so they folded him in, setting out a stocking for him at Christmas, keeping the pantry full of Corn Chex and Pop-Tarts, foods only he ate. Sasha had initially thought that was what married life would be like—that she would marry Cord and his family would fold her on in. But they didn’t. Her own family was a restaurant booth—you could always scoot in and make space for one more. Cord’s family was a table with chairs, and those chairs were bolted to the floor.
A month before her wedding, a man in a suit rang the bell at her apartment. Sasha was home alone, eating a yogurt and working on her computer, designing layouts. She had been hired by a small contemporary art museum in Manhattan to design their new signs, shopping bags, and advertisements. She peered at the security screen and knew it wasn’t FedEx, so she scampered down the hall to put on a bra before opening the door.
“Are you Sasha Rossi?”
“I am,” she said with a confused smile.
“I’m a lawyer for Fox Allston, and we manage the Stockton family trust. We’ve prepared a prenuptial agreement for you to sign. I suggest you retain your own lawyer and he or she can be in touch to negotiate.”
“A lawyer?” Sasha asked, bewildered.
“You should always use a lawyer for this kind of agreement. I wish I could recommend someone, but unfortunately, you’ll need to retain a different firm. Give a call if you have any questions.” With that, the man handed Sasha a manila envelope and gave her a nod before trotting down the hall to the elevator bank.
“What the fuck?” Sasha carried the envelope to the kitchen and called Cord at work. “Cord, the weirdest thing just happened. A lawyer just showed up at the door and handed me a prenup! Like, I got served!”
“Hey, can we talk about this later? We’re in the middle of some stuff here,” Cord said.
“Oh, sure, yeah, tonight.” Sasha hung up. But that night, after dinner at his apartment, Cord had no interest in talking about it.
“Just get a lawyer and let them sort it out,” he said, shrugging.
“I mean, I will, but were you going to mention it to me?” she asked.
“What’s there to say? It’s paperwork. They’ll figure something out, you’ll sign it, we’ll move on.”
“I mean, for starters you could be like ‘I love you honey and I never want to get divorced.’?”
“You can have your lawyer add that part.” Cord rolled his eyes.
“Ouch,” Sasha replied, offended.
“Look, it’s not up to me. Everyone signs them. It’s how marriage works. Marriage is a legal arrangement. This is part of it. Don’t make it a big deal.”
“Maybe in your world this is how marriage works, but not in mine. Do you think my parents have a prenup?”
“I don’t understand why you’re trying to make me feel so bad about this!” Cord said.
“Because it makes me feel bad!”
“It shouldn’t matter!”
“If it doesn’t matter, why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“Because it’s not a big deal!”
“You know it’s a big deal. I’m trying to build a life with you and you’re making it clear that you want to have an escape hatch. That no matter what, I’ll never really be part of your family.”
“We’re getting married. What else do you want from me?” Cord asked coldly.
“What else do I want from you? I want you to put me first. I want to be the most important person in your life. I want you to tell me that no matter what happens you will always be on my side. That you’d choose me over your family.”
“That’s a ridiculous thing to ask. I would never choose anyone over my family.” Cord walked into the bedroom and closed the door. Sasha stumbled out through the lobby and slept in her own apartment that night, getting up early the next morning and driving home to Rhode Island. She couldn’t stand to look at Cord, couldn’t imagine climbing into bed with yet another person who put her needs last.
When she told her parents what had happened her father was outraged. “He had a lawyer show up with papers like you were some parolee? That’s just wrong. If that’s how rich people act, you don’t want to be one anyway.”