He didn’t hesitate after I spoke before he asked, “Can you tell me what you discussed during this not recent lunch?”
“Can you tell me why I’m here?” I returned.
“I prefer to ask the questions Ms. O’Hara. ”
I stared at him then I pulled in a breath. Then I answered, “Damian wanted to discuss reconciliation.”
“He wants you back,” he stated.
“That is what reconciliation means,” I informed him and his mouth got tight again.
Then he observed, “I would assume from your asking him not to contact you via the phone that you declined this reconciliation.”
“You would assume correctly.”
“And that was it? That’s all you discussed?”
“No, he asked about our dog who I got custody of in the divorce and who has since died. I told him he died. Other than that, yes. Pretty much. That’s all that we discussed.”
“Pretty much?”
“Sir, it was six months ago and I hadn’t seen him in over four years. His contacting me at all was a surprise and not a good one. His reason for wanting to meet was a surprise too and definitely not a good one. I’m sorry I didn’t take note of everything we discussed but the reason for the meeting kind of rooted itself in my brain, forcing out everything else.”
“You hadn’t seen him in over four years,” he noted.
“Yes, that’s what I said,” I confirmed.
“So if you didn’t wish to reconcile, why did you agree to lunch?”
I pulled in breath. Then I stated, “I forgot.”
He stared at me. Then he repeated my words in a question. “You forgot?”
I nodded. “I forgot how Damian was. I forgot, when he contacted me, told me he wanted lunch at the same time he told me his father wasn’t well, that Damian is, well…” I threw out a hand. “Damian. Or maybe I didn’t forget, maybe I blocked it out considering I spent those years trying to block out everything about Damian. But I know he’s close to his father, I was close to his father, though I haven’t seen him in over four years either. So I felt badly he wasn’t well, I wanted to know what was happening, Damian refused to tell me over the phone so I met him. Then I discovered nothing was wrong with his father and Damian used that to lure me to lunch.”
He stared at me again, likely letting the news my ex-husband was that big of an asshole sink in before he changed tactics. “It was you who filed for divorce.”
They’d looked into me.
Good God. They’d looked into me.
What was happening?
“Yes,” I confirmed, thinking with whatever was happening honesty was definitely the best policy so I kept with it.
“Infidelity?”
I nodded and added verbally, “Yes.”
“Repeated,” he stated.
“You’ve obviously read the court documents so you know that’s also a yes. But, yes, I’ll confirm that Damian cheated on me repeatedly.”
“Yes, Ms. O’Hara, I have read the court documents and the fact there are documents, and the number of them that there are, state that the papers you filed were contested. He fought the divorce. It went before a judge.”
“Yes, he did.”
“He didn’t wish for your marriage to be dissolved.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“But it was.”
I sighed then said, “Yes, it was.”
“And you walked away with nothing except money enough for your legal fees, did I read this right?”
It was at this point I was beginning to get scared. That was to say I was beginning to get scared to add to the already scared I was which was layered on top of the massive freak out created by my home being invaded by what appeared to be about three teams of multi-agency SWAT (because some had the word POLICE on their vests, some had FBI and some had DEA), pulled out of my bed and hauled to the Police Station to be questioned.
Therefore my bravado melted and it came out as a whisper when I asked, “Please, can you tell me what’s going on?”
He didn’t tell me what was going on. Instead, he queried, “Did you ever regret that, Ms.
O’Hara?”
“What?” I asked.
“Accepting from your husband nothing but your legal fees, did you ever regret that?”
I shook my head. “No, I… no. I didn’t. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted –”
“Why?”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“Why did you want a fresh start? Ten years with him, multiple infidelities, he made six figures, you lived a very nice life. You could have cleaned up. But you took the dog and took off. Didn’t you think he owed you? Didn’t you think you should have part of the life you built together?”