Chapter 14 - THE LAST LOAN CAROLINE ASKED ME FOR
Before accepting her agreement, Caroline asked to speak with me once.
Sandra remained in the room.
Caroline did not argue about the evidence.
Instead, she placed a sheet of paper on the table.
A budget.
Her new apartment.
Projected salary from an entry-level administrative position.
Childcare.
Debt payments.
Food.
Gas.
She was short almost eight hundred dollars a month.
“Nathan will have support obligations once the separation agreement is final,” I said.
“I know.”
“Then what are you asking?”
Her eyes filled.
“Nothing.”
I waited.
She pushed the budget toward me.
“I wanted you to see that I finally wrote it down before it became an emergency.”
That hurt in a completely different way.
Months earlier, she would have handed me the shortfall and expected money.
Now she was showing me the problem without asking me to remove it.
“What will you do?”
“Move somewhere cheaper after the lease.”
“What else?”
“Pick up weekend work.”
“And childcare?”
She swallowed.
“I’ll pay for it.”
I nodded.
Then she said, “I’m sorry I hit you.”
Not because I refused.
Not because she was stressed.
Not because Nathan made things worse.
Just the sentence.
“I’m sorry too,” I said.
She looked surprised.
“For what?”
“For teaching you that asking me for help had to come with shame attached.”
Her eyes lowered.
I continued.
“That does not make what you did my fault.”
“I know.”
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That was the first conversation in which neither of us tried to trade guilt.
Caroline accepted the agreement the next morning.
