“I’ve never heard of anyone ever doing that.” Is this too good to be true, or is he wrapping me up in cotton wool because he thinks I’m delicate? “Are you being real with me? Because I’ve never heard of this.”
He looks up at the ceiling, laughing at me. “It is real. It’s part of the reason I can charge what I charge. Just like I offer security at the front door and at the garage below. It’s one of the things I’ve put in place. Look, I’ll stay here and you can go right now and ask the other tenants. I promise you, it’s how I run this complex, along with all the others I own.”
“Huh,” I sigh. Katie brings over our drinks, and sets them on the table. “Well then. Thank you, I accept,” I say once she leaves.
“It still needs to be painted and the carpet replaced once the tenant leaves, so I’d say about six weeks it should be ready.”
Katie’s back within a few seconds, carrying our food. She places it down, smiles sweetly at us, and leaves. “I wanted to tell you something.” I pick my sandwich up and take a bite.
“What is it?” He starts eating his fries first.
“I’ve started the ball rolling for a divorce. It should be final by the end of February if Trent doesn’t cause me any problems.”
“Are you doing it yourself?”
“No, I went to a lawyer and got it started. I don’t anticipate too many glitches, because I haven’t heard a peep from him. Nothing. It’s as if he’s completely disappeared.”
“Let’s hope he never comes near you again. Because truthfully, Lily, I’m not sure he’ll like the consequences if he does.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask as I take another bite of my sandwich.
“It means someone hurting someone I’m very fond of, doesn’t play too well in my books. Not at all.”
The rest of lunch is spent talking about the movie tickets, the books I’m editing, and just about everything and anything.
But Max’s words of ‘someone I’m very fond of’ are at the front of my mind. They don’t seem to bother me, actually, I like knowing Max is protective of me.
Something I’ll need to talk to Katherine about tonight after work.
I can’t believe this last month. Trent didn’t cause me one single problem. The divorce went through smoothly and with that part of my life over with, I’m finally able to breathe. Truthfully, I’ve waited for something to occur. A phone call, a text message, a disturbance at work. But nothing has happened. My lawyer called me to tell me my divorce petition had gone through and there was no contest filed by Trent. I’m now officially divorced.
What a relief! It was like the sun has finally broken through the dark clouds and showed me her sweet rays. Imagine, being in the worst drought of your life, and water pouring from the sky and filling all the catchment areas. It was the biggest sense of relief I’d ever felt.
I was, officially, Lily Anderson again.
The night my lawyer told me I was a free woman, I lay in bed and tried to think about the good times I had with Trent. Looking back, it’s as if I was looking on at the life of a person I didn’t recognize. Almost as if I was an outsider watching the cruel maiming of an animal and was powerless to step in and help. A glass wall was in front of me. I couldn’t touch it, but could only watch and feel everything happening to the broken, wounded girl on the other side.
Of course, every time I was happy with Trent, it was soon overshadowed by the times he hurt me. Those were most painful for me to look back on and watch. I was so frail, so weak yet so strong.
The only sadness I felt, and still feel, is for Trent’s mom, Lina. I can see now she’s as much a victim of domestic abuse as I was, and I have to wonder if there’s anything I can do to help her. But Katherine told me, I need to help myself first, and find who I am before I can even think about Lina. I see her point, and I understand what she’s saying.
I hope one day, Lina will want to save herself, because I’ll be there to help her.
I went to sleep that night with one chapter of my past ended. But something kept playing on my mind. I tossed and turned all night, instead of the closure of ridding myself of Trent, I had a gaping hole I had no answers for.
Why was I treated so badly by Mom, and then Dad? What happened that made them so resentful they’d hurt their only child? I was no closer to finding the answer. And up until now, I’m unaware why they felt so much hatred and hostility toward me.
I’m about to finish work for the night, and Max has said he wants to take me out. Our relationship is progressing at a tortoise’s speed, but I’m nowhere near ready to take it to any intimate level beyond kissing and holding hands. It’s crazy, I know. Here I am, twenty-five years old and not ready to have a physical relationship.