A Pact For Life (28 page)

Round one finished, only a few thousand more to go.

Inside Diana’s office that same afternoon, her and Jenny were putting the finishing touches on an organized outline for Andrew's divorce. The hearing was scheduled for the next week, and Diana had worked tirelessly on the arguments. Over the course of her professional relationship with Andrew, she had developed a personal stake in this one.

Jenny set her packet down and said, “I think it looks good. Do you want to add anything else?”

Diana held up her hand to signify she was still reading. After a few seconds, she clicked her pen and scribbled something down. Handing Jenny a set of papers full of red marks, she said, “Here’s my changes. I’ll go over them again tomorrow.”

“Uh oh, does Cale know that you’ll be in work mode this weekend?”

Diana gave a little laugh. “Good point, I wish I could tell him to stay at his studio this weekend. I'm not sure I can take any more boring nights at home.”

“Wait, what does that mean?”

“It’s nothing, forget it.”

“Is there something wrong with you and Cale?”

Diana didn’t respond.

“Is there something right with you and Dr. Finnegan?”

Again, Diana didn’t respond, but the color of her face shifted from clear
³²
 to a light pink.

“Ah, that’s what it is, isn’t it?”

“I… I don’t know. Is it horrible that I can’t stop thinking about Andrew?”

Jenny knew she had to proceed with caution or else Diana would close herself off and become sheltered with her work. “No, it’s not horrible at all. I don’t blame you. If I was in your position, I wouldn’t be able to get him out of my head either.”

“But Cale. He’s the father, and I’m sure he’s expecting to get married… that stupid pact.”

“Would you ever…”

“I don’t love him anymore.” Diana interrupted and felt her eyes start to water. “He’s like a completely different person than who I fell in love with. All of his independence is gone, he checks with me before he does anything, and is incredibly boring. There’s no humor, or excitement, or even a shred of entertainment. I know I didn’t ever show it, but I loved how unique he was. Now he’s like every other guy I’ve ever dated. But what can I do?”

“What about just talking to him? I’m sure he can go back to how he was. Just give him a few martinis and he’ll come back around.”

Diana forced a smile. “You know, you’re right.”

“I’m sure it will work. Remember, it’s Cale Dawkins we’re talking about.”

Diana looked down at the paper showing Arguments for the Divorce of Dr. Andrew Finnegan and said, “I know.”

Diana was spread out across her couch, her head on one end, her legs over Cale’s lap on the other. It was Friday movie night, and by now you know the routine. Diana however, was planning on throwing a stick in the spokes of routine.

For some reason, she was nervous to tell Cale to act more like his old self. Here was someone she was going to be bound to for the rest of her life, and she was nervous to talk with him about something that altogether wasn’t that big of an issue.

“Cale,” Diana asked hoping for a simple, sweet response containing the word, darlin’.

Cale responded with an, “Uh?” It was a way to say yes, only without using the tongue to create words.

Diana came right out and said it. Only what she said was something different than what she planned. “Do you still want to get married?”

“Oh… yeah. Yeah, I do. Do you still want to?”

“Well, it’s part of the pact that got all this started, so we might as well see it through.”

Diana made it sound like a prison sentence, something Cale called her out on, “Geez, don’t be too enthusiastic.”

“Come on, Cale, I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I still want to marry you.”

“Don’t you think we should start planning for a wedding? Whatever you want to do is fine by me. We can wait until after the baby is born if you want.”

It was the ‘whatever you want’ phrase that made Diana twitch. “Listen, I need to talk to you about something.”

Cale’s heart rose for a second, then sunk straight to his guts. “Okay?”

“This… this blind willingness you’ve had these past few months. It’s just too much. I appreciate the effort you’ve made. Really, I do, but I miss the old Cale.”

“Believe me, I miss him too.” Cale said as he thought about walking around the neighborhood with Nick, Brian, and a joint the size of a canoe.

“So why don’t you start acting like that again?”

“You mean drinking and drugs?”

“No. I mean you can drink here and there, but I don’t want you high now or after the baby is born.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Cale beamed as he downplayed how much of a problem it actually was becoming.

“Good, now about the wedding. What do you really want for it?”

Cale smiled. “Well, for one, darlin', I’d like to be there.”

“Cale Dawkins, it’s good to have you back in my life.”

“Glad to be back,” Cale responded as he thought of that canoe sized joint floating him down the city.

TRIALS

Amidst the boutiques, salons, and upscale restaurants of Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood, a round bellied Diana Young waddled through the sunny streets. Per Dr. Lincoln’s instructions, this was her exercise now, walking. In the span of one week, she had gone from an active thirty-three year old to a geriatric mall walker.

One of the reasons she loved to run so much was due to the trance feeling. That painless, transcendental two - five mile mark where you’re on a higher plane with your thoughts. With walking, this type of trance was impossible to attain.

Part of it was her own fault. Diana had skipped listening to music, and instead was streaming NPR’s Weekend Edition through her phone in some attempt to have something even more in common with Andrew. With news radio, getting into a trance was impossible. You can't dive into your own thoughts when you actually have to listen.

The thing is, at that moment, she really needed the trance that running provides. There were issues that needed sorted. Namely, Cale, Andrew, the baby, her job, the house, the wedding, and how each of them had gotten tangled up with one another. Alas, she was too busy listening to straighten it all out.

After walking for an hour without even breaking a sweat, the program ended and Diana suddenly found herself able to listen to her own mind.

The Internal Dictation of Diana, Part III:

I want Andrew. I can’t hurt Cale. I will not cheat on him. WILL NOT, WILL NOT, WILL NOT. I’m stronger than this. But Andrew feels so right. The move is next week, focus on that. But the trial is this Tuesday. Focus on that instead. Alright, the trial… What am I gonna do about the wedding? After she is born, then we can get married. Cale needs to be in her life. And I will need the help. I cannot be a single mother. But Andrew…

“Hey you!”

Is it wrong to want my perfect guy? That damn pact... I‘m not a cheater. Never have and never will. I love Cale. He’s not perfect, but neither am I. How can people who love each other cheat? How can they?

“Hey!”

Diana stumbled for a second at this shout that was obviously in her direction. Looking around for a familiar, friendly face, it didn’t take her long to find one. It was familiar for sure, but it definitely wasn’t friendly. Sitting at a table outside Starbucks surrounded by three other women was Kristen Finnegan-Felts, Andrew’s soon to be ex-wife.

Diana walked over to the table with a puzzled look on her face and hesitantly said, “Hello?”

“Girls, this is the bitch lawyer Andrew hired.”

The three other women at the table laughed at Kristen’s comment. It was impossible to tell Kristen and the others apart – pink baseball caps with ponytails sticking out the back, black yoga pants, various colored zip-up hoodies, and sunglasses in a three inch horizontal band stretching from ear to ear. Diana meanwhile stood there dumfounded at Kristen’s brashness. One woman calling another woman, let alone a pregnant one, a bitch to her face? Now that takes balls.

Diana slid her hands inside her jacket pockets and made fists. Her dumbfoundness had suddenly turned into deviousness, and she knew exactly what to do to make Kristen regret ever calling her a bitch.

“Listen, I want to talk to you about Andrew and the trial.” Diana said while pulling up a chair. “This won’t take much time, and your friends can stay if you want them to.”

Kristen shrugged and said, “Fine by me.”

“First off, I’m sorry about how harsh I’ve been over the course of the divorce proceedings. I mean nothing personal by it, it’s just the way I handle those things. Plus, sorry for the language here, but the firm representing you is full of dickless weasels who aren’t interested in winning the case, they just want the attorney fees.”

Kristen scoffed. She didn’t want to admit Diana was right. “So you’re familiar with them?”

“They denied me an internship when I was in college. One of their partners hit on me and when I turned him down, it cost me the internship.” With that last line, Diana had won over Kristen’s friends.

But Kristen still refused to turn. “Maybe you flirted with him during the interview? I’ve seen how you act around Andrew. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you two were dating.”

Diana looked down at the ground and smiled. She was struggling for a comeback. “It's not that... I mean... women have been the subservient sex for thousands of years.” Neither Kristen nor any of her friends knew what subservient meant, but they were at least in the ballpark with a definition. “I don’t think it’s wrong to use our strengths to get what we want from men. I’m sure you agree.”

'I'm sure you'd agree' was supposed to be a direct insult toward Kristen, but she took it as a compliment. “You’re right, me and the girls were talking about that earlier. If a woman wants a rich, older man to take her out for a good time without any sex involved, she should be able to without being criticized.”

“I absolutely agree.” Diana replied.

Kristen bit the front of her lip in search for the right words. “I’m... I’m sorry about calling you a bitch. It’s just this thing with Andrew. In these meetings, you guys seem to say everything right while we sit across the table and struggle for responses.”

“It’s alright, I understand.” Diana said as she finally saw an opening for her devious plan. “I need to tell you something, and I’m not acting as Andrew’s lawyer when I say this, but as someone who doesn’t want to see you get screwed by the system. You really should take the settlement offer.”

One of Kristen’s friends asked, “Kristen, what was the offer?”

“Umm… $200,000 and the condo on 15th Ave.”

Diana added, “We had the condo appraised at just under a million dollars.” Conveniently, she left out just how much under a million it really was. “Kristen, if you lose this court case, you’ll get nothing.”