false.
They had agreed on the division of furniture, and James had gone over with movers to remove what was his. There had been no disputes. Katherine discovered she was able to step back and not feel emotional about any material things.
“Really,” she said to Molly over a mocha at Starbucks, “in the grand scheme of things, what does any of that stuff mean now?”
“Well, I would take the bastard for everything I could,” Molly answered, “especially if I knew there were things he might really want. Then I would give it all to Goodwill!”
Kat choked on her last gulp of coffee, laughing at the same time.
“Seriously,” Molly continued, “you’ve been way kinder about this split than I ever would have been! I know I would have been mean. I think there’s something very satisfying about looking into the eyes of someone who has inflicted pain on me and saying ‘gotcha! ’ ”
“I hear you. I think I accomplished that when I demolished his beloved bike.”
“Oh yeah, that was a good one. But I would definitely want a face-to-face confrontation. At least, that’s what I needed with every one of my breakups,” Molly said.
“Nope, not for me. I just want it over. I think James is hurt that I don’t want to see him, and that’s given me some satisfaction.”
Molly nodded slowly, considering Kat’s point.
“Dealing with my damaged ego and broken heart is another matter. Honestly, I feel like I would just like to punch the living daylights out of James if I had the chance.”
“Kick him squarely in the balls,” Molly offered.
“That too.”
As expected, the townhouse sold quickly. The closing was fast, but Katherine had no problem dealing with that, as she was sending everything of hers to storage.
There had been one more unpleasant surprise. Unbeknownst to her, James had made some high-risk investments on a margin account, using the house as collateral. She had signed the papers at the time, but he had always assured her the investment was doing well, and she had no reason to doubt him.
When the house was sold, Katherine shook her head as she picked up her check from the lawyer’s office. “I guess I have no recourse here, right?” she asked, and her lawyer confirmed that.
The final nail in the coffin , Katherine thought. I really have no respect or feelings for the man now in any way. It’s as if he is a completely different person to the one I thought I knew.
“Asshole!” Molly spat out when Katherine told her.
“Well said,” Kat agreed.
“ Anyu, I know what you’re going to say before I even ask this question, but I want you to at least think about it,” Katherine had instructed her mother over dinner the night the house went on the market.
“So you know I’m going to say yes, no matter what it is. Why should I think about it?” Elisabeth replied, her eyes crinkling with laughter.
Shaking her head, Kat smiled lovingly. “You are the best.” Within days she had moved into her old room and set up an office in the spare room.
Her quick retreat from the townhouse had helped put some things in perspective. Change was here, and this she was learning to accept. Her feelings of guilt, remorse, anger, and confusion were another story. The future looked blank. It wasn’t as if she and James had talked a lot of about retirement and what came after. In fact, they actually hadn’t, as they were both so focused on their careers. But certainly she had never considered life without him.
The thought of being a single woman at fifty-five was dragging her down. The sadness and emptiness were unrelenting, and she wondered if depression might be setting in. This frightened her for a lot of reasons she couldn’t quite articulate. Andrea and Molly, as well as her mom, had suggested the possibility of some counseling, and she promised to look into it.
“So how’s it going, Kat, really?” Andrea asked. They were walking down the snow-covered lane through Andrea’s country property