Melinda stood behind her chair, gripping its wooden rail.
“You told me she signed something.”
“I thought once we had a plan—”
“You lied.”
“So did you,” Adelaide said to Melinda.
Both of them looked at her.
“You stood in my kitchen and told me there was nothing to discuss. Whether he lied or not, you knew I hadn’t agreed to you.”
Melinda’s hands loosened.
“Yes,” she said.
Adelaide gathered the pages and returned them to the folder.
She could almost hear the familiar excuses assembling inside her. Phillip had been under pressure. Melinda had old wounds. Families said cruel things. Perhaps one more patient conversation would spare everybody the discomfort of consequences.
Then she looked at the photograph.
“I will not be leaving.”
Phillip opened his mouth.
“You will both find somewhere else to live. We’ll arrange a reasonable move with proper notice. Tomorrow I’ll speak to a lawyer about that, and about keeping my affairs in my own hands.”
“You’d make us homeless?” he asked.
Adelaide felt the old pull of that word. Motherhood had trained her body to respond before her mind could catch up.
“No. I’m asking two working adults to arrange their own home.”
Melinda sat again.
Phillip looked at his wife, waiting for support. She kept her eyes on the torn photograph.
“Tell her,” he said.
Melinda’s voice was almost inaudible.
“She shouldn’t have to leave.”
“You wanted the room.”
“Yes.”
The admission seemed to cost her more than an argument would have.
“I wanted it. And I decided she was in the way.”
Phillip stared at her.
Adelaide closed the folder.
“Tonight, I need quiet. Tomorrow, we start making arrangements.”
Nobody reached across the table. Nobody embraced. Phillip went down the hallway, and the bedroom door closed with an ordinary click that Adelaide felt in her chest.
Melinda remained.
After a while, she placed the other half of the photograph beside the first.
“I’m sorry.”
Adelaide looked at the narrow gap between the pieces.
“I heard you.”
It was all she could give.
The following morning, Adelaide called Rosie before she could persuade herself that last night had been a misunderstanding.
Her friend arrived with breakfast wrapped in foil and stayed while Adelaide made the difficult calls. At the lawyer’s office, Adelaide explained the housing arrangement without softening anybody’s words.
The lawyer confirmed that the home belonged to her. Together they established the appropriate notice and a written moving agreement. Adelaide canceled the assessment appointment herself.
