Part 4 (1/2)
What's left to save? the voice in her head asked caustically. The man's been cheating on you for years. He isn't the same person you married. Or maybe he is, and you just didn't realize what a jerk Jeff Buckley was when you were that starry-eyed virgin who fell in love with the college quarterback. You did what was expected of you by your family. By his family. You were the good girl who saved herself for marriage, but the son of a b.i.t.c.h never really cared. He expected it just like he expected you to behave as you always have. Dutiful. Chaste. Patiently waiting. Waiting for what? To be sc.r.a.ped into the garbage like yesterday's mashed potatoes?
”I'm finished,” Jeff said, breaking into her thoughts. He pushed his plate and gla.s.s at her.
Rising, Nora rinsed them and tucked them into the dishwasher, smiling to herself. She was so deferential, the good wife. She turned to him. ”Would you like to go into the den to talk?” she asked.
”No, here is as good a place as any,” he told her.
Nora nodded, and sat down again.
”I guess,” he began, ”you realize that we haven't been getting on, or rather that we've been growing apart, for the last couple of years.”
”You want a divorce, Jeff. Is that it?” Nora said, surprising him.
”Yeah, I do,” he replied, a little taken aback by her calm.
”You don't think we should try to mend this breach between us?” she pressed him. Well, for her own conscience' sake she had to at least make an effort, she thought.
”I think we're past that,” he answered her, but a wary look was creeping into his eyes.
Nora sighed. ”If you don't love me, I can't hold you, Jeff,” she said quietly. ”If you want a divorce, you may have one. I a.s.sume there's another woman.”
”No tears? No recriminations?” He was at once suspicious.
”Jeff, I'd have to be a complete fool, and G.o.d knows I've been near to it over the course of our marriage, not to realize you weren't happy these past few years. You grew in one direction. I grew in another. It's no one's fault. These things happen. And there is another woman, isn't there?”
”You can't prove adultery,” he said quickly. ”Besides, those aren't grounds in this state. I want a divorce. Plain and simple.”
”And I said you could have one. Plain and simple,” Nora responded. So he had already checked out grounds, had he? What a b.a.s.t.a.r.d!
”Then I'll have my lawyer set it up, and you can sign the papers when he has them,” Jeff Buckley said to his wife.
”No, I think you should have your lawyer call my lawyer,” Nora told him, almost laughing at the surprised look on his handsome face.
”When did you get a lawyer?” he demanded.
”Every woman has a lawyer, Jeff. That's something you had best keep in mind, for future reference, of course.” She was enjoying his discomfort immensely.
”Who's going to represent you?” he asked suspiciously.
”Rick and his firm,” she said softly.
He looked relieved. ”Oh.” Obviously he didn't consider Rick was going to give his lawyer any difficulty. ”Okay, I'll have Raoul call him on Monday.”
”Do you want me to tell the children?” she asked.
”Yeah. They'll understand, and it's better coming from you, Nora. When they see how on board you are with this, they won't be so angry.” Then he grew wary again. ”You're not going to blame me for this, are you? I don't want you turning the kids against me over this. h.e.l.l, they must have seen how it was between us these last years.”
”You're their father, Jeff. Sadly I can't change that,” Nora told him.
”You were hot to be my wife,” he answered crudely. ”If I hadn't been certain of your virginity when we married, I would have really wondered about you, Nora. But then you were always my good girl, weren't you?”
”The girls in my generation were raised to wait, Jeff. How clever of you to understand that. But that doesn't mean we don't like s.e.x,” Nora replied. The arrogant son of a b.i.t.c.h, she thought. He had always been like this, and she just hadn't seen it.
”Like s.e.x?” He laughed. ”You haven't had s.e.x since I last banged you. Do you even remember when that was?”
”I don't remember nonevents,” Nora answered him softly.
”You know, you're turning into a real b.i.t.c.h,” he said, and then he stood up.
Nora laughed. ”Good!” she told him.
”I'm going to go back into town tonight,” he said. ”Drive me to the station.”
”Call a cab,” Nora responded. ”As of this moment, I am no longer at your service, my lord. Tell me, does your girlfriend cater to you the way I always have? Or is it her independence and f.u.c.k-you att.i.tude that turns you on, Jeff?” There was just the hint of a smile playing about her lips as she saw his jaw tighten.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the local cab company, ordering his transportation. Then he said to her, ”I'll wait out front.”
”Aren't you afraid of what the neighbors will say?” Nora taunted him.
”Oh, I think they already know,” he snapped back at her. ”Even your friend Carla isn't as dumb as you've been, Nora.”
”I trusted you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Her anger rose up.
”Like I said, Nora, dumb,” he told her, and then he walked out the door.
She stood in her foyer for the briefest moment, shaking. Then she shut the door firmly behind him. She hated him. She never wanted to see him again. How could she have fallen in love with him all those years ago? Dumb! Yes, d.a.m.nit, she had been dumb! But she wasn't going to be dumb anymore. And if he thought he was going to get away with leaving her in poverty, he was sadly mistaken. What was it Ivana Trump had once said? ”Don't get mad. Get everything.” Well, she didn't want everything, but she wanted her house. And alimony until she could get on her feet. The house should be hers. But she wouldn't take a penny more from Jeff than it took to get her started moving in a new direction. And the kids' schooling had to be paid for because she didn't want them starting out burdened by debt. Especially Jill. Law school wasn't cheap, but at least her daughter would be able to support herself if she turned out to be as dumb as her mother where men were concerned. Jeff couldn't leave their children out in the cold. His children. What if the girlfriend had a child? Well, G.o.d help her if she did, Nora thought.
She needed The Channel tonight. She wanted to get away from all of this, and be the woman she really was. But J. J. would be home by midnight. Unless, she considered, she told him he could stay over at one of his buddies'. She heard a car honk outside, and peering through one of the sidelights edging the front door, she saw her husband hurrying to get into a Ca.s.sandra's cab. Schmuck, she thought, using one of Rina's favorite terms. Nora turned to go into the den so she could call The Channel and escape from all this nasty reality.
”Nora!” The back door slammed shut.
d.a.m.n! She said the word silently. It was Carla.
”What happened?” Carla came into the hall. ”I saw Jeff leaving.”
”He's asked for the divorce,” Nora said sanguinely. ”And he thought he'd just have his lawyer draw up the papers so I could sign them.” Then she laughed. ”You should have seen the look on his face when I said his lawyer should contact my lawyer.”
”The b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Carla exploded.
”No, it's alright. I almost feel relieved now that it's happened. I've been such a naive little fool all these years, Carla. With Jill going to law school and J. J. off to college, what would I do with myself? Join the Garden Club? The Egret Pointe Ladies' Reading Circle? I'm only just realizing how out of touch with reality I truly am.”
”You are not out of touch with reality!” Carla responded loyally.
”Yes, I am,” Nora answered quietly. ”I've got a college degree, and yet I've spent the last quarter of a century looking after the needs of a selfish man, and two children. I have no idea how to operate a computer, or program the VCR. But I'm going to learn, Carla. And I'm going to survive on my own, and pay my own way. Not at first, but eventually. I'm glad to be rid of Jeff. I don't really know him anymore, but what I do know, I don't like.”
”Oh, honey!” Carla put her arms about her friend and hugged her.
”Now if you're convinced that I'm not going to kill myself, get out of here,” Nora said, drawing away from the other woman. ”I'm going to let my son stay over with his buddies tonight, and I'm going to get The Channel.”
Carla giggled. ”Yeah,” she replied with a grin, ”a good s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g always makes a girl feel a whole lot better. Have fun! Oh, Rick says come into the office on Monday at eleven a.m. so he can get started on protecting you in this mess. Night!” And she was gone with a wave of her hand.