Thankfully, Kate hadn’t withered under his intense stare.
If anything, her lawyer had fought back, doing her best to ensure Eric’s lawyer kept him in check.
It had been the longest hour of Amy’s life, and she was still reeling days later.
Had she completely ruined her chances at an amicable divorce by leaving the way she did?
Or was Eric looking for yet another reason to blame her?
She couldn’t tell for certain.
All she knew was that over the past few days, she’d been walking around with knots in her stomach and a headache in the back of her skull that wouldn’t leave her alone. No amount of planning or wishful thinking was going to change her current circumstances. Even reaching out to Lucas and Sylvie hadn’t helped.
The two of them remained as confused as ever, and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why.
Why couldn’t they understand how much she needed them?
They were still playing catch-up, and Amy didn’t want to lose her patience.
When the phone rang, startling Amy back to the present with a jolt, her hand flew to her chest. Her heart was thumping erratically until she saw Lily’s name flash across the screen. With a sigh, she set the phone down on the dining room table and set it on speaker. Since no one else was in the house, it felt good to have Lily there to disturb the silence.
“Hi, is this a bad time?”
“No, I’m just looking up courses online and trying to figure out how to finish my art project.”
“How’s that going?”
Amy wrenched her gaze away from the laptop and stared at her phone. “It could be better. How about you?”
“Same old,” Lily replied, her voice trailing off toward the end. “You know how it goes. Renovations are taking longer than we’d like, but we’re getting there.”
“I hope you get there sooner,” Amy offered, her eyes darting back over to the laptop. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Lily cleared her throat. “Actually, Lucas and Sylvie just called me. They asked me to arrange a sit-down.”
“A sit-down? With whom?”
“You and Dad,” Lily replied reluctantly. “They both can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact you’re done and you want to leave.”
Amy frowned. “I was afraid you were going to say that. I’ve tried to explain things to them, but I don’t think they’re ready to hear it.”
“Or they just don’t want to.” A door opened and closed. There was a low cacophony of voices in the background, then another door closing. “And it doesn’t matter how well you explain things to someone if they aren’t ready to accept what you’re saying.”
Amy nodded to herself. “Yeah, true.”
Lily’s voice was pitched low when she spoke again. “I think Dad’s been talking to them about the divorce and trying to pit them against you.”
Amy’s stomach clenched, and fear snaked its way through her body, tightening its grip around her heart. “I was afraid of the exact same thing, but I didn’t think anyone else would come to the same conclusion.”
Lily shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner…all of the claims they were making about how you left Dad, and how you didn’t even try to fix things, and how you’re trying to take half of his money.”
Amy was on her feet before she knew what she was doing. “I can’t believe he’d stoop that low.”
“Me either, but you have to do something.”
Amy shoved both hands into her pockets and began to pace. “What am I supposed to do? Bad-mouth him back? That’s not the kind of person I am.”
And she wanted to emerge from all of this with a shred of dignity intact.
