Chapter 14 - THE NINETY DAYS THAT BECAME SIX MONTHS
Our ninety-day marriage review happened on day 103 because Ava had the flu and corporate history does not impress a four-year-old with a fever.
Rebecca sat across from us at Daniel’s kitchen table.
“Do you want to remain married?”
I looked at Daniel.
“We barely know each other.”
“True,” he said.
“You snore.”
“So I’ve been informed.”
“You schedule conversations like board meetings.”
“That’s efficient.”
“It’s horrifying.”
Rebecca closed her eyes briefly.
Daniel almost smiled.
Then the serious part returned.
I now had money of my own.
Not billionaire money.
Enough.
I rented a small three-bedroom house near Ethan’s new school using my settlement advance. I accepted a job in operations at a nonprofit transportation service after one of Rebecca’s clients heard how I had become stranded in the first place.
I no longer needed Daniel’s home.
That was exactly when I felt safe enough to decide whether I wanted Daniel himself.
“I’m moving out,” I said.
His face stayed neutral.
“All right.”
“With the children.”
“Of course.”
“And I don’t want to divorce yet.”
That broke the neutrality.
Only slightly.
Rebecca leaned back.
“So what do you want?”
“A real marriage doesn’t start with a bargain on a highway.”
Daniel nodded.
“No.”
“So if we’re going to find out whether there’s anything real here, I want to start again.”
“How?”
“Dinner.”
He blinked.
“Dinner.”
“One dinner. You ask me questions that have nothing to do with trusts, audits, children, or survival.”
“And if it goes badly?”
“I go home.”
Daniel smiled then.
Not the controlled smile from the sedan.
Something smaller.
“Sarah Mitchell, would you have dinner with me?”
“Yes.”
May you like
Rebecca packed her papers.
“I sincerely hope neither of you requires counsel for that.”
