3: 3
3
Sixty thousand dollars was gone from the joint account.
I set the statement in front of Paul just as his meeting let out.
"Where did this money go?"
He barely glanced at it.
"I used it."
"Used it for what?"
"Sara's divorce lawyer needed a retainer, and she had a load of things with nowhere to store them. I covered her legal fees and storage costs for now."
He said it so easily, as if it weren't the balance owed on our wedding, just some cash he'd pulled out of his wallet.
"She's still living in our apartment."
"She'll leave once the paperwork's done."
"So you used our money to help her get divorced?"
"I'm trying to solve the problem fast." Paul pushed the statement back at me. "The sooner her situation's over, the sooner her life goes back to normal. Aren't you the one who's always minded her staying at the place?"
"Put my half back."
His brow furrowed.
"Fiona, can you stop fixating on money for once?"
"It's the balance for our wedding."
"The wedding isn't tomorrow. She's the one with no options right now."
"My mother had no options either, when she was stuck in a hotel after her surgery."
"Your mom has people to look after her. Sara's here on her own, and her ex won't stop hounding her."
Sara had been in the break room. Hearing her own name, she came out.
"Mr. James, I'll pay you back. I can figure something out myself."
Paul said at once, "This has nothing to do with you."
"The money was spent on her. How does it have nothing to do with her?"
"She already said she'd pay it back. What more do you want?" His voice rose. "You have to corner her when she's at her lowest?"
Sara lowered her head, eyes red.
Suddenly I didn't want to argue anymore.
He diverts our shared money, and it's helping someone.
I ask for my own money back, and it's nickel-and-diming.
In that version of things, there had never been a place for me to stand.
"Put it back before tonight." I picked up the statement. "Or my lawyer treats it as joint funds."
Paul shot to his feet.
"We're about to get married, and you're bringing a lawyer into it over sixty thousand dollars?"
"You took it first."
I left his office and went to pick up my mother from the hospital.
She'd been dizzy after her follow-up, and the doctor didn't want family letting her go home alone. Paul had promised the night before to drive over, but when the agreed time came, he never showed.
I called twice. Both times he hung up.
The third time, Sara answered.
"Miss Swanson, Mr. James is driving."
"Driving where?"
"Taking some things to storage for me."
When I got to the hospital, my mother was sitting on a plastic chair by the entrance, the bag of test results held against her chest.
When she saw me, she smiled first.
"The doctor was making a fuss over nothing. Sitting a while didn't hurt me."
She had waited forty minutes. Her lips were still a little pale.
I crouched down and buttoned her coat for her.
"Why didn't you call me again?"
"You were at work." She patted my hand. "Paul said he was coming, didn't he? Something probably came up."
The car was already out of the hospital lot when Paul finally called.
"Did you get your mom?"
"I did."
"Sara's documents can't get damp, and storage only held until five. I figured your mom could grab a car herself. Same thing, no?"
"She just had surgery."
"It was only a follow-up."
I gripped the wheel. Ahead, the light turned red.
"Paul, you promised her."
"I really couldn't get away today. You're already there, so don't keep hanging onto this."
Someone on his end called him over to sign something.
He said quickly, "We'll talk tonight."
I hung up.
My mother didn't ask what was wrong between us. She only held the bag of results a little tighter.
Back upstairs at the studio, I laid it all out together: the six-month lease, the moving company confirmation, and the wedding cancellation documents.
Then I resent the time for our parents to meet.
Paul replied fast.
【Have the budget sheet ready. I'll clear up the Sara situation once and for all too.】
I looked at it a long time, and in the end I sent back a single word.
【Fine.】
He thought tomorrow he'd be explaining sixty thousand dollars and a key.
