Merriton

“Are you sure?”

Kit Kat was questioning Mira on her dating history, “He’s pretty sure he dated YOU.” She could hear her sister thinking on the other end of the line. “You said he’s Native American, right? The only Indian I knew was Roscoe and he didn’t even count because he was more Bowen than he ever was Palomino. And I’m pretty sure I would have remembered somebody named Samson. What? Does he never cut his hair?”

Kit Kat laughed, “It IS very long, all braided down his back.” Mira answered again, “Definitely, no!” They both laughed, but it seemed very strange to her. He had been so adamant about dating Mira. She could still remember the smell of his anxious sweat at her doorstep.

While she pondered Samson’s unbridled outburst, she could hear Mira gearing up for a lecture. “I’ve sent you a work up of some divorce papers. I’m not licensed to practice in New York, so I had a colleague of mine write them up.” Kit Kat interrupted, “I got ‘em. “ Mira continued without a break, “Without knowing your complete assets, it was difficult to work out the distribution. It would have really helped if you could have gotten those to me.”

“I told you,” Kit Kat said, “If he wants a divorce, he can bloody well make up the papers on his own.” Mira snapped back, “I know what you told me, but you’re still being stupid. He has that failure of a vitamin business. What if the FDA sues him for claiming his ‘magical’ vitamins cure menstrual cramps or something? He doesn’t have any money, so they’ll come after you for the fines and take the royalties from your books and make you sell your house. He’s a liability.”

Kit Kat clenched her jaw, but said nothing as her sister continued, “Or maybe he WILL come after you for abandonment or whatever they call it in New York. He’ll say that you just left him and moved to Merriton without him and he’ll get that divorce with a ton of alimony from you. You can’t just abandon a marriage, Kit Kat, you have to legally dissolve it.”

Kit Kat was unmoved, but she wanted Mira to shut up, so she replied, “I’ll look at the papers.” It was obvious that Mira was not appeased, however. “Don’t just look at them. SIGN them and send them back to me in that envelope I included. We did our best to protect your assets. We made them kind of ruthless, so he’ll probably fight it. Maybe we’ll luck out and you’ll get out of this without having to pay alimony, but if he has half a brain in his head, he’ll be hiring a PI to prove that you’re cheating on him. Don’t let him take all your money. He doesn’t deserve it.”

Through all Mira’s talking, all Kit Kat could think about was Dave finally realizing that he was still miserable, even though she wasn’t there. How long would it take for him to come to his senses and know that it hadn’t been her fault that he was so sad? It had been a month and a half. Shouldn’t he have figured it out by now?

“And another thing! You stay away from John Sebastian. If what that Samson guy said is true, then John considers you his property without even seeing you for the last twenty odd years. You’re not an object that he can call dibs on. Any man who thinks he can isn’t the kind of man you want to be involved with.”

Mira took a breath and Kit Kat tried to think of what she could say to stop the ranting. Before she thought of an appropriate response, however, Mira chimed in again, “And if he DID call dibs, why hasn’t he come to visit you yet? You’ve been there for almost a month and he hasn’t come by? What’s the matter with him?”

Kit Kat laughed, “You can’t tell me in one breath to stay away from him and scold him for staying away in another!” Mira exclaimed, “Sign the papers! Don’t be an idiot about this.” Kit Kat interrupted any further lecturing, “Fine! I’ll sign the papers and send them back to you tomorrow!”

It was enough to calm her sister and the two of them hung up amicably, but Kit Kat shoved the envelope into an empty kitchen cupboard. When Dave finally came to his senses, the two of them could laugh over them together.