Chapter 14 - THE LAST THREAT AUSTIN COULD NO LONGER MAKE
The divorce settlement took eleven months.
The house required valuation.
The home-equity line required tracing.
Austin’s Parker Lakeside Ventures interest had to be classified.
Company equity needed updated valuation after his resignation.
The joint account had to be divided.
The SUV turned out to be Evelyn’s corporate lease and went back at the end of its term.
Caroline bought a used Volvo because she discovered she did not care about luxury cars nearly as much as Austin thought she did.
The house was the hardest.
Caroline could afford to buy out Austin’s marital interest.
She almost did.
Then asked herself why.
She no longer liked the house.
Too many rooms built for entertaining people Austin wanted to impress.
Too many memories of financial conversations she had delegated because he called them tedious.
So they sold it.
That surprised him.
“You always loved that place.”
“I loved what I thought it meant.”
The proceeds paid off the mortgage and home-equity debt.
The remaining equity was divided under the settlement.
No one got everything.
No one left with nothing.
Reality offended Austin’s favorite threat.
At the final mediation, he sat across from Caroline.
No shirtless rage.
No hospital floor.
Gray suit.
Tired eyes.
He signed the property agreement.
Then looked at her.
“Was there ever a point where I could have fixed us?”
Caroline considered.
“Yes.”
His face lifted.
“The hospital.”
It fell again.
“If you had walked into that room, seen me hurt, and asked what I needed instead of what I could still do for you…”
She stopped.
Austin looked down.
“That late?”
“No.”
Caroline shook her head.
“That early.”
He understood.
The hospital had not destroyed the marriage.
It revealed it.
Austin signed the final page.
Then asked:
“Are you keeping Parker?”
Her surname.
Caroline looked at it on the document.
“I don’t know.”
For years she thought the name tied her to the company.
Then to Robert.
Then to Austin.
Now it was simply a name she had carried through most of her adult life.
“I’ll decide when it stops feeling like a reaction to you.”
May you like
Austin nodded.
It was the first decision about Caroline he no longer expected to influence.
