204 Rosewood Lane - Debbie Macomber [92]
“It’s me,” she said. “I wanted to apologize for blowing up at you this afternoon.”
Olivia didn’t say anything for several moments, then she slowly smiled. “You’re forgiven, too.” She laughed at whatever he said. “You can thank Grace. She was the one who insisted I had to patch this up. As usual, my friend was right.”
Soon after, Olivia disconnected and looked over at Grace. “Thanks,” she whispered.
Grace felt good. “You’re welcome.”
“Do you want me to call Cliff for you now?”
She shook her head, but Olivia ignored her. “His number?”
“Olivia!”
“Don’t make me look it up,” she said. “And don’t tell me you don’t know what it is, either.”
“Oh, all right.”
To her surprise Olivia didn’t immediately hand her the receiver. She waited until Cliff had answered, then said. “Hi, Cliff, this is Olivia Lockhart. I wanted to thank you for the flowers you sent Mom. They’re absolutely lovely.” After a brief discussion of Charlotte’s prognosis, she said, “I have someone here who wants to say hello.” She handed Grace the receiver.
Grace drew in a deep breath and tried to relax as she brought the phone to her ear. “Hello, Cliff.”
“Grace.” He sounded both surprised and pleased. “I thought Olivia was staying with her mother.”
“Not exactly— Charlotte’s staying here. But once she’s back in her own house, her friends want to take turns spending the night with her. I’m here because Olivia and I went to our aerobics class and then had dinner and a couple of glasses of wine.”
“Ah, that explains it. You’re feeling brave enough to talk to me.”
“Something like that.”
“We never did finish our conversation that Saturday, did we?”
“No,” Grace admitted.
“Are you willing to try again?”
It was as if she really had reverted to being a teenager. “I’d like that very much,” she said shyly.
“So would I,” Cliff said, and then repeated, “So would I.”
Sharon Castor, Rosie Cox’s attorney in the matter of her divorce from Zach, had explained that the next step was a settlement hearing. Both parties would meet with their attorneys at a mutually agreed-upon location to go over the final details of the case, including child custody.
They were scheduled to meet at the library in the court-house. The main problem had to do with the children. If they couldn’t agree on custody and division of property, they’d go before the judge in an informal hearing. Sharon had said the judge’s decision wasn’t binding, but it was most likely what would be decided if the suit went to trial. Meeting with the judge informally would save everyone time and expense, which suited Rosie. She wanted this over as quickly as possible. Now that the process had been set in motion, she was eager to get out of this disastrous marriage.
For the first time since Zach had become a partner in the accounting firm, lack of money was an issue. While they were married, they’d lived on a budget and Rosie had been good about keeping their expenses within the confines of that—admittedly generous—monthly allotment. All of a sudden, she had less than half the money she’d had before, and it was difficult to meet expenses. The financial difficulties she’d experienced since Zach moved out of the house were bad enough. But he’d taken half the furniture and half the linens and half of just about everything else. A dozen times a day she’d reach for something to find it wasn’t there. It was a harsh reminder of her husband’s absence from the family.
Sharon Castor and Rosie were seated in the library when Zach and his attorney arrived. Rosie had found Sharon’s number in the phone book. She’d chosen her without references or anyone’s recommendation because she was too embarrassed to admit to her friends that she needed an attorney. She wanted a female lawyer and she liked the name Castor. Rosie wasn’t a spiteful woman, but she wanted Zach to feel like he’d swallowed a dose of castor oil by the time she finished with him. He deserved no less after what