Page 90 of Blue

“The CliffsNotes, idiot version.” Mooky forced a grin. This was a good day. He needed to act like it.

His lawyer chuckled. “Exactly what you wanted.”

Mooky peered at him. “What?”

“Nothing more, nothing less.” Nate sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers with a satisfied expression. “She agreed to everything the way you had it written. Shared custody on the schedule you laid out, with your mother acting as the go-between handoff as necessary. No additional alimony.”

After shifting forward on the chair, Mooky took the pen and folder. He needed to get these papers signed before she came to her senses, or her insanity, and changed her mind. Blinking wildly, he leafed through the pages. He skimmed through the words. He saw Angela’s initials and her signature at the bottom.

“She’s signed already?” he asked, befuddled.

Clearly, she had, making his question rhetorical, but his disbelief left him confused. He could see the evidence. However, it didn’t make sense to him.

“How?” he asked, raising his eyes to meet the lawyer’s. “How did you get her to agree to my terms after all this time?”

He wasn’t completely sure he wanted to know, but he needed to know. After all, it finally happened. She signed the papers. Something had to have convinced her, but why was he looking a gift horse in the mouth?

Nate tapped his joined fingers to his chin. Quietly, for a moment, he peered off as though contemplating his words.

“I wish I could say it was my negotiation skills.” He grinned and met Mooky’s gaze. “But onceIcame to them with the terms, her lawyer returned the forms signed. She put up no resistance.” He shrugged. “I can only guess that last fight, the police station bit. It was all she had left in her. Sometimes, in battle, there comes a point where it’s not worth the fight anymore.”

Mooky considered his words and peered down at the papers. Skepticism nagged at him. There had to be more to it. Especially considering she’d shown up at his mother’s house trying to apologize.

But did he want to question it? She’d finally done the one thing he’d asked her to do. Angela had freed him.

He should be relieved.

The pen shook ever so slightly in his hand. Why was he so goddamn anxious about this?

The time had finally come. This was life-changing. Once he signed these papers, the battles were over. He’d be out of the marriage. He’d be free and could do right by Blue. It would end the bullshit his kids had to deal with all the time.

Swallowing hard, he brought the pen down and put his first set of initials: CR.

A kink in his neck released.

He did it again and again. The tension across his shoulders loosened.

At the bottom of the page, he signed Charles Retz, as Nate explained and directed him over each page. Each signature made his inhales that much easier to take.

CR.

CR.

Charles Retz.

CR.

Charles Retz.

Laying the pen down, he stared at the last paper.

“There you go,” Nate announced.

Mooky nodded. There he went. Done. Marriage over. All of his legal ties to Angela were severed.

“In thirty to ninety days, you’ll be legally divorced.” The folder closed on the papers. “I’ll have Rebecca make you a copy for your records. You’ll get the official judgment in the mail.”

“That’s it?” Mooky asked, rising when it occurred to him Nate had stood.

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