Taking the Leap 2024
{{ Friday, March 1
Kenner, LA
Bree’s house }}
Morning sunlight shines on my face through the window and wakes me up. I open my eyes, and three things immediately stick out and confuse me. One, I’m on the couch in the den. Two, there’s a man’s leg under my head. And three, I have no idea where my son is. Raising my head to look at the time on the wall, I see it’s just after six. I look up further and see that the leg I was sleeping on belongs to Josh. He’s leaning sideways against the arm of the couch, asleep.
Now I remember.
I sit up slowly as the events of the day before flash through my head. Dom on the phone. Everything I heard. Double confessions. I declared it over. Dom didn’t seem very happy about it, but he couldn’t deny I was right. Then he left. I’d texted Josh and he came here as soon as he could get Alex to stay with Jalyn. Speaking of babies, Heath is at Jaina’s. I called her after Dom left to take him for the night. I didn’t trust myself to be in the right state of mind to take care of him. I didn’t tell her why, and she didn’t ask. Maybe she guessed. I’ve told no one other than Josh. I don’t think I can do that yet.
I shake my head and brush my hair out of my face. I don’t even want to think about any of it right now. Except that’s impossible, since Josh is still here, sleeping next to me on the couch. That will have to change. I reach over, grab his knee, and shake it gently.
“Josh…. Babe…” He stirs, and raises his head.
“Hey… morning already?”
“Yeah. Super early.”
Sitting up, Josh stretches a little as he glances at the clock, just as I had. “Can’t believe we slept here all night.”
“You could have gotten up and left—”
“No.”
I grin. “Of course. Well, I’m glad you stayed. I’m just sorry you probably have a stiff neck or back.”
“It’s not that bad, really.” He smirks as he stretches again. I can tell he’s fibbing. “More importantly, how are you?”
“I’ll live.”
“Ouch. That bad?”
I shrug. “Honestly, I don’t know yet. And I won’t until after he comes back later.”
“Understandable.”
“Speaking of which… I have no idea when that will be, and it’s probably a good idea for you to not be here when he is.”
“Is he usually up this early?”
“Not unless he has to be. But neither am I, and here we are. So.” I shrug again.
“Yeah. I get it.” Josh sits up further, all the way, and reaches for his shoes near the table. “I hope this doesn’t come across wrong, but do you know how much longer he’s going be staying here?”
“It’s a valid question. But no, I don’t. We didn’t really discuss any of that. He left right after… it was settled. All that’s decided is he’s moving across the hall today.”
“That’s something at least.”
“I figure we’ll be working some of that out today. I’ll let you know.”
Josh nods as he finishes tying his second shoe, then looks up at me. “Thanks. Do you need anything before I go?”
“No.” I smile, and reach for his hand. “You’ve already done everything I needed.”
“What, sit here and let you sleep on me?”
“That. But also you listened when I’m sure it’s not the easiest thing for you to hear.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting to hear all about this since the day you told me you love me.” He smirks, but gives my hand a squeeze too, telling me it’s a half joke but half serious.
“Right.” I grin and move to sit closer. “I should have known. Either way, you just being here and listening, and holding me… it was exactly what I needed.” Unsaid was the fact that neither of us made any kind of sexual move. I was obviously not in that headspace and he knew it. That meant just as much as everything else, and I knew I didn’t have to mention it.
“Okay. I just want to make sure you’re okay before I leave.”
“I am. Thank you. For everything.”
We get up and I walk Josh to the door. I really wish he didn’t have to go, but there’s so much that needs to be taken care of before we can be officially together.
“If you need anything, call me.”
“I will.”
“Are we still training later?” We had plans to work out all day today to prep me for Retribution.
“I’ll let you know.” Josh nods. “Probably in the afternoon. I have a feeling I’ll need to get away from here for a while.”
“Okay.” Leaning in, Josh holds my face with one hand and kisses me softly. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
With a grin, Josh walks out. I close and lock the door behind him, then lean on the door. With my eyes closed I exhale a deep breath, slowly. It’s a weird feeling, to anticipate and dread a day at the same time. I want everything over with, but I know it’s going to be difficult.
Resolved, I get some coffee started, then go upstairs to shower. No point in going back to sleep now. I couldn’t if I tried.
* * * * *
After a long shower and enjoying my large mug of coffee outside in the cool morning air, I go back inside. I see it’s nearly 8 now. I had sat outside longer than I thought. Time tends to go by quickly when you have a lot on your mind, and I had so much on mine that I started making notes on my phone. Things that needed to be done, things to ask Dom about, things to ask a lawyer about. Standing in front of the coffee pot trying to decide if I want more or not, I hear the door open behind me, then close softly a few seconds later.
Yes, I want – need – more coffee.
I sense more than hear Dom walk into the kitchen as I pour. Without thinking about it, I reach up into the cabinet and get out another mug. Then I scoff at myself, for doing something routine that isn’t going to be a routine for much longer.
“You’re up early.”
I turn just as Dom is taking a seat at the island. “I’ve been up for a while. Didn’t know when you’d be back, so…”
“I should have said. Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I nod my head back towards the counter behind me. “There’s enough coffee for you.”
“Thanks.” I sit at the island across from him, like usual. As soon as I’m seated, Dom gets up and gets his own coffee. That’s out of the usual; any other morning I’d have fixed it for him, since I was up first. But we both know this isn’t any other morning. A minute later, he sits back down across from me.
“You know, it’s kinda sad that we’ve got this morning-after awkward thing down to a T now.”
“Is it? Awkward, I mean?”
“Maybe not for you.”
“What do you mean?”
Dom shakes his head. “Nevermind. I just walked in the door five minutes ago, we don’t need to jump right into this.” He sips his coffee, pointedly avoiding looking at me.
“No. You don’t get to say something like that then brush it off.”
Dom lowers his mug slowly, keeping his gaze down. “You really want to do this right now?”
“I don’t see a reason to prolong it.”
“Fine.” Pushing the mug away, he looks up at me. “What I meant was… you said you’d been thinking about, or planning this, for weeks. It blew up in my face less than twenty-four hours ago, so I haven’t had nearly as much time as you to wrap my head around it.”
“I suppose that’s fair.” I’m not sure what else he expected after I knew the truth, on top of everything else we’d had trouble with. But I don’t want to argue, I’m past that, so I keep that thought to myself.
“So, yeah, it’s a little awkward from this side, I feel like I’m playing catch up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. You were right yesterday, I did it to myself. I could have just come clean with the first article, but I didn’t. I thought I, we, could fix it. I just had no idea how broken it really was.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“In fact, I never got to where I was going last night. I stopped by the lakefront and sat there a while. A few hours had passed, I thought maybe since we’d had time to calm down that I could come back here and try to talk with you again. See if maybe there was some kind of way to work this out. So, I drove over here… and saw the car in the driveway. I didn’t even slow down, just drove past the house, down the road, and right back out of the gate.” The dejection in his voice breaks my heart.
“I’m sorry you saw that. It wasn’t what it looked like, he was just making sure I was okay.”
Dom shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter what it was or wasn’t. I don’t need to know. It just made me really think about everything you said, and instead of trying to find a way around it, let it sink in. You were right. This has very little to do with either Josh or Robin, if anything at all.”
“I’m not going to pretend it’s not a part of it. But the biggest problem between us would exist without either of them involved. I think you know that.”
“Yeah, I do. And I know there’s nothing I can say or do that’s going to change your mind.”
“No, there isn’t.”
“As much as I don’t like it, I know it’s better this way. I guess I just don’t like failing.”
“I don’t like it, either, regardless what you might think after last night. I’m sorry.” I have some now-cold coffee to mask swallowing the lump in my throat.
“Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault, it’s no one’s fault. It just is. We knew there was this… rift, years ago. We thought we could work with it but…” Dom shakes his head.
“But it just got worse.”
“Exactly. The truth is that neither of us would have done what we did if things were okay, or even had a chance of being okay.”
“You’re right. That’s why I can’t be mad at you for it.”
“Yeah, I understand that now. I’m not mad at you either, not really.” We just look at each other for a few seconds, and it’s this moment where it hits me that we are truly over… and it’s okay. Dom takes a deep breath, and leans on the counter. “I might regret this, but I want to ask you something about Josh.”
“Go ahead.” I have a feeling what it is, and I have no intention of lying. Not ever again.
“Is it just fucking around, or more than that?”
“More than that.”
“So you love him?” I breath in slowly, trying to choose my words. Dom misinterprets my hesitation. “Please just be honest.”
“First of all, I have no intentions of ever lying to you, or anyone, ever again.” He nods understanding. “To answer you… do you think I would have done what I did for anything less?” He shakes his head negatively. “I didn’t want to be that person. I tried to ignore it, but…” I shrug.
“But you couldn’t. Because you do.”
“Yeah. I do.” He looks down at his hands, with a small nod. “I’m sorry if that upsets you.”
“It doesn’t.” Looking back up, he has a small grin. “It actually makes me feel better. I think it would be a lot worse in my mind if it was meaningless.”
“You know I don’t do that.”
“I know you didn’t used to. I just had to ask.”
“So… does that mean you love Robin?” I know he used to do meaningless all the time, but he asked me, so maybe… Dom sits back with a sigh.
“I don’t know. I think she would like that.”
“Maybe you should work on figuring that out.” That gets me a raised eyebrow. “What? I like her, I always have. I hold nothing against her at all. I can’t be mad at her if I’m not mad at you. My anger was because of the lying, not the action. But I’m past that now.”
“Okay. While we’re on the subject, let me make it clear that I don’t hold anything against Josh, either. He’s a good man. Don’t have to worry about any trouble from me.”
I smile. “Thanks for that.”
A few moments of silence linger, then Dom clears his throat a bit. “So, uh… have you thought about legalities?”
“A little bit, but I was hoping to wait until after Retribution to do anything.”
“Right, that makes sense. Listen…. How about you leave Heath here with me while you go work? So you can focus a little bit better.”
I blink a few times, surprised. “Can you do that? You show drops today, don’t you have promotional things to do?”
Dom was shaking his head halfway through my question. “No, I had already arranged to have this weekend free, because of your show.” Oh. Right. Because he always comes with me to pay per views. “I just think it’s best if I stay here with him, and let you do your work.”
“Okay.” I nod, more to convince myself than him. I can’t remember the last pay per view I went to without him. But… everything is different now. “You’re probably right. We’ll do that. Thank you.”
“Of course.” We both grin a bit, then Dom stands up. “I suppose I should go up and start moving things.”
“Do you want me to help you?”
“No. I feel like I should do it myself.”
“Okay.” I stand, too. “’ll just get out of your way then. Heath is at Jaina’s, I asked her to take him last night.” He nods. “I’ll be at the gym.”
Another nod, and Dom heads up the stairs. I sigh, and grab both of our coffee mugs, and dump them in the sink. Just then it occurs to me that this arrangement means Josh can come with me to the show, instead. The thought makes me smile.
{{ Tuesday, March 5
New Orleans, LA
Central Business District }}
Retribution wasn’t the first time Josh was with me at an SCW show, but it was the first time he flew there with me on my plane. Everyone flying with me – Amy, Jaina, and Marie – knew the situation, so we didn’t have to hide anything. At least, not from my family. We were still careful at the hotel. So far only the people on the plane, my brother, and of course Dom knew what happened.
The show went well for me, I am still champion. I made Autumn submit, which is what I set out to do when I stepped into the ring. I wanted to make a statement, and I did. Josh was proud of me for that, it was the hold he’d helped me perfect that took her out. After the show I admit it felt strange when Dom only texted me a congrats rather than calling, like he usually would when he wasn’t with me. It’s just one more small change that I hadn’t thought about as a result of this. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before, but everything would be different now. I know its what I wanted, but it’s going to be a hard adjustment. On the flight home, I mentally prepared myself for things to get a lot harder, once we started the legal process.
That begins today, when Dom and I meet at the law office of Mr. Ed Morris, Amy’s lawyer that she’s dealt with for many years. But first, I have another piece of business to handle, a few blocks away from Ed’s office.
Stepping off the elevator, I feel odd being here alone. I’d never been to Lisa’s office by myself. But this has to be done. I walk in, and her receptionist lets her know I am here. It only takes a minute or two for the young woman to send me through. Walking into Lisa’s office, the look on her face tells me she knows exactly why I’m here.
“Bree. Good morning.”
“Morning. Thank you for seeing me. I apologize for coming without making an appointment, but I didn’t think this could wait.” I take a seat, but sit on the edge of the chair, as I don’t anticipate being here very long.
“It’s no problem, I admit I was expecting you any day now.”
“So you know.”
“Yes. He called me that day.”
“Of course. Then I suppose you know that I have several bones to pick with you.”
Lisa sighs, folding her hands together. “Yes, I know. I want you to know that—”
“What, you’re sorry? You called me several times offering information about media bullshit, except half of it was exactly that – bullshit. You warn me about possible photos, then tell me they went away, except you left out the part where you were the one who made that happen!”
“I wasn’t going to apologize. I told you then that there were things I couldn’t tell you, due to client confidentiality.”
“I understood that, what I don’t understand is blatantly lying to me. You never told me you knew for sure those photos were real.”
“I was asked not to.”
I scoff. “Of course you were. Let me ask you this… did you see them?”
“Bree…”
“I already know everything, okay? He told me. You have nothing to cover for. Did you see them?”
Lisa sighs. “Yes. I did.”
“Were they clear? Could you tell it was him?” I don’t know why I want to know this. I just do.
“Let me put it this way. You should be thanking me for ensuring that they’re gone and you’ll never see them.”
“That bad, huh?” I sound deadpan. She’s right. If it’s like that, then it’s in everyone’s best interests that they no longer exist.
“I did tell you they were rather explicit.”
“You did.” I clear my throat, trying to keep my composure. “In that case, I do thank you. For me and for him.”
“I was just doing my job.”
“Does your job typically require you to play two sides? Because he had no idea you had told me about them at all.”
“Yes, it does.” Lisa leans forward a little, as one would when speaking to a close friend. “Let me explain something to you, okay? This is not an easy job. Things like your situation are why I rarely agree to represent both halves of a couple. I have to see each client in a bubble, and do what is in their best interests, independent of everyone else. Sometimes, that requires me to keep secrets and yes, occasionally lie. Please understand that it’s not personal at all. I just need to protect the best interests of each client, no matter what that takes.”
I sit back, properly chided. I had never really thought about all of this from her point of view.
“Yes, I see that now.”
“I want you to know that if you had felt the need to confide in me your side of the situation, I would have kept your confidence just the same.”
“I believe you. You won’t have to worry about any of that from today going forward though, I’m going to make things easy for you. I can’t be your client anymore.”
“No, you can’t.” Lisa grabs a folder from the corner of her desk. “I’ve already drawn up a Representation Termination form. All you need to do is sign it.” She slides it to me across the desk. I take it, and read. It’s straightforward, citing ‘conflict of interest’ as the reasoning. “If you hadn’t contacted me in a few days, I was going to contact you.”
I just nod, and grab a pen from the cup on her desk. I sign it, the slide it back to her.
“So that’s it?”
“That’s it. On a personal note, I am sorry it has to be this way, and I’m sorry about what you’re both going through.”
“I appreciate that.”
Lisa reaches into her desk drawer and pulls something out. “If you’re interested in finding alternate representation, I have a few recommendations for you. The card on top is my first choice.” She hands me a small stack of business cards. I flip through them, counting three.
“Thank you. I’ll consider it.”
“I’m sure you realize that you and I will have reason to be in contact in the future—” I nod. Of course. “—and I hope that despite the way I had to play this, we can remain on good terms.”
“I don’t see why not.” I force a smile. I am still furious with her, but I’ll get over it. I stand, and offer my hand. “I won’t take any more of your time. Thanks again for seeing me.”
Lisa stands as well, then accepts my handshake. “Thank you for coming by.”
* * * * *
Ed Morris’ office is four or five blocks away from the building that Lisa’s office is in. I’ve known Ed peripherally for years, he’s been Amy’s lawyer she keeps on retainer for as long as I can remember. I’ve never had any business with him myself, but I have met him a handful of times. I never expected to be a client of his, but my previous lawyer, Rodney Sharp recently retired. When I told Amy that I was sticking with my plan to leave, I mentioned Sharp’s retirement and she offered to ask Ed to help me. I insisted on paying him myself though, rather than it being a part of her retainer.
Dom and I arrived separately, as he also had a different errand this morning. He didn’t tell me what, and I didn’t ask. It’s none of my business anymore. We’re sitting in Ed’s office side by side across from the large mahogany desk. I’m holding a legal size envelope that contains a notarized copy of our prenuptial agreement. Dom and I had looked it over last night and agreed that there was nothing in it that either of us wanted to contest. After our conversation right before Retribution, everything’s been civil, friendly even. I know that we’ll always be one of each other’s best friends.
Ed comes in from an inner office door and greets us with a smile. He’s around Amy’s age, maybe a little older, with graying black hair, and glasses.
“Good morning, sorry to keep you waiting.” He sits as he speaks, and grabs a notebook. I guess he’s old school in taking case notes.
“No worries, we haven’t been here very long.”
“Glad to hear it. I had a conference call that went long. Anyway… Bree! It’s good to see you. When Amy called me a few weeks ago, I told her I was more than happy to help you out. Oh, and of course good to meet you, Mr. Teller.” The two shake hands across the desk.
“Dom is fine, thanks.” He grins, but it’s one of the fake ones. “Weeks ago, huh?” Dom looks back and forth between me and Ed.
“Yes, weeks. I told you I’d been planning this.” Sometimes I think he still doesn’t truly believe I’ve wanted out for a while, or that I have anything real to do with Josh. I’m dreading the day he sees us together and it hits him like a brick.
“Right, you did. Sorry.”
Ed clears his throat a bit. “Alright, are we ready to get to it, then?” Dom and I both nod. “Okay. For legal reasons I need to ask and you need to answer, on the record, what can I help you with?”
Dom and I glance at each other, and I can tell by the look on his face that he wants me to do the talking.
“We’re here to file for a divorce.”
“Alright, thanks for that. And what do you have there?” Ed gestures to my envelope.
“This is our prenuptial agreement that I told you about” I hand it to him. He pulls it out of the envelope and skims it.
“Okay…. Okay… this looks good and valid. We’ll dig into it in a bit. Firstly, I need to know how you’d like to file. You have options.”
“What options? You’ll have to pardon me, my previous marriage was annulled, so I don’t know how this works.”
“I’m brand new to this, too. What can we do?”
“Okay, you have a No Fault divorce, or an At Fault.” Well, we both screwed up, so does that negate the fault? Before I can ask, Dom asks his own question.
“Do they have a difference in how long it takes to go through?”
“Indeed they do. If you go with No Fault, which essentially means no one did anything wrong, you just have irreconcilable differences, grew apart, what have you. Because you have a child, you would need to file a separation first, then live separate and apart for 365 days before you can file for actual divorce.”
“A year?” Dom and I look at each other, equally appalled.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“It’s to protect the best interests of any children involved, to ensure that the parents truly do want to separate.”
“What about the other way?” Dom suddenly seems eager to get it done as quickly as possible. I want to know what changed, but I’ll ask after this meeting is over.
“The other way to file is At Fault. Just as it sounds, it means that one spouse did something wrong, but there are specific grounds. Such as adultery, one spouse is abusive to either their spouse or children, if there is a protective order, if one spouse is convicted of a felony and imprisoned. I’m going to assume none of that is the case here?”
Dom turns to me. “You didn’t tell him?”
“No. I thought it best to discuss that in this meeting.” I turn my attention to Ed. “Actually, there is. Adultery.” I really don’t like that word, but it’s the legal term, so I went with it.
“I see.” Ed looks back and forth between us. “I’ll admit if that’s the case, I am a little surprised you’re here together.”
“Well… it’s more involved than just that, we mutually agree it’s for the best.”
“I see. Okay, in that case, the aggrieved party would file against the spouse who committed the act.”
Dom defers to me again. I shrug. “We both did.”
Ed’s eyes widen just a bit, but he corrects it quickly. “Riiight. Be that as it may, for an At Fault filing, one spouse has to deemed to be the one actually at fault.”
“Is there a way it can done as both? We’re not really trying to play the blame game here.”
“Unfortunately, there isn’t. I’m afraid you’ll have to choose. Bear in mind that this is legal fault, no one is actually blaming the other, if that’s not your intention.”
“How are we supposed to decide that?” I sound despondent, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to create a fight out of nowhere.
“Flip a coin?” Dom cracks, with a smirk.
“Very funny. I’m serious.”
“Sorry… just trying to keep this from going sideways.”
Ed leans on his desk, his hands folded. “Might I make a suggestion?”
“Go for it.”
“How about choosing to lay the fault on the one who… acted, first.”
Another glance between me and Dom. “Uh… we never really figured that out.”
“I’m fairly sure I’ve worked it out, actually.”
“You have?”
“That day of my phone call… I asked you since when, and you said November.”
I can’t believe he remembers that. “Right. I did say that.”
“So unless it was the final week, odds are it was you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because Robin wasn’t here until after Thanksgiving.”
“Oh.” I knew that. Fuck. It was me. I look down at my hands, feeling like shit. “Blame me, then. I… it was before Thanksgiving.”
Silence hangs for a few moments, then Ed rustles some papers, making me look back up.
“Alright, is that what you both want to go with?”
“Yes.” “No.” We spoke at the same time.
“Dom, we just worked it out, it was me. Besides, you have to think about this in terms of who we are. Once this goes public—”
“Hang on, can’t we get this sealed?” Dom turns to Ed.
“I can petition for that yes. You have a high chance of it being granted, due to your celebrity. However, there is precedent of journalists petitioning to open these cases and winning.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic.” Dom sighs heavily.
“Okay, so let’s assume it doesn’t stay sealed. You’ve had enough shit thrown at you already, you don’t need something else. My career can take the hit. I don’t know if yours can.”
Dom shakes his head. “No, Bree. You’ve got it backwards. The media have already painted me as the villain. And let’s be brutally honest here, they were right. Other than a few details being exaggerated and guessing the wrong woman, they were right.”
I push thoughts of the pictures that don’t exist anymore out of my mind. Lisa was right, I am grateful she made them go away. “Okay, so they were right. So what? Eventually they are going to find out about Josh. All we have to do is tell the truth… that I cheated first.”
Dom sighs hard again and turns his whole body in the chair towards me, leaning over.
“You’re not listening. It won’t matter what we feed the media, or what those records will say. They are never going to believe it wasn’t me. They’ll twist it to sound like you hooked up with him to get back at me.”
“But that’s not what happened.”
“Since when do they care about the truth? They’re not going to walk back everything they’ve already written about me since January. They’ve already convinced the world that I’m the villain. Put the blame on me, it’s already there.”
“That’s my whole point. They’ve dragged you down enough. Your show just came out, and now you want this to pile on top?”
Dom sits back, and laughs. I frown, failing to see what’s funny. “Listen, I am far from the first actor to have cheated on his wife, and most of them who have, were successful anyway.”
“Hm. Can't really argue that.”
“This is the one time to give them the narrative they want. Do that, they’ll report on it for a week or two, then move on. If we try to tell a different story, they’ll never let it go. I know you know that.”
Looking down at my hands again, I hate to admit it, but he’s right. The vultures won’t stop if they smell blood. There’s already enough out there about him to make this sound like the inevitable consequence. “Do you really want to drag Josh through all of that, too?”
“No.” I shake my head at myself for not having considered that. As private of a person as Josh is, he would hate everything about it. I look up and put my hands up. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”
“Okay. Good, thank you. It’s really the best way.”
Ed clears his throat. I had almost forgotten we were in his office. “Okay, with that settled, there’s one more difference in filing At Fault, in that your living arrangements aren’t an issue. The other way, one of you would have to find another domicile before you could file. This way… it doesn’t matter how long you remain in the same residence.”
“Good to know there’s no legal rush.” I had assumed Dom would stay in the house until he found a place to lease or buy, anyway. I’m fine with that. Dom says nothing to this statement, which strikes me as odd.
“I can start drawing up the paperwork. I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can to be signed.”
“What about that?” Dom points to our prenup.
“Oh, this. Yes, let’s look this over.” Ed grabs it and reads, this time more carefully. “Retain pre-marriage property… separate bank accounts and earnings, child trust… plane account?” Ed looks at us over the top of the page.
“I have a private jet. That’s the account used to pay my pilot, fuel and upkeep. We both have paid into it.”
“This says you’ll leave it as is and in your possession? Even though you’ve contributed?” He asks Dom the last part.
“Yes.”
“What’s not in there is our personal agreement. I’ll allow him to still use the plane when needed, as long as it doesn’t conflict with my schedule.”
“And that will be sooner than you think.” I give Dom a squint. “My meeting this morning before here was with Chris Safford. My director.” Dom says as an aside to Ed. “They’ve moved season two production to Los Angeles.”
“Oh. So you’re moving to Santa Monica then?” He’s had a house there since before I met him. We’ve used it for vacations. No wonder he was quiet when Ed brought up living arrangements.
“At least while we’re in production, yes. After that… I may come back here to be closer to Heath.”
“We’ll have to discuss that later, I don’t think it matters here for Ed.” I give Ed a questioning look.
“For the initial filing, no. But that will come into play at the child custody hearing, which is a separate issue from the divorce. Have you agreed on those terms as well? I can take some notes for now.”
“Yeah, we’ve worked it out.”
“Heath will be staying with me. I have more family around. But Dom is of course allowed to see him or take him any time he wants, schedule providing.”
Ed scribbles a little, then looks up with a small smile. “I can’t see the judge taking issue with that. This all seems rather straightforward and should go through easily.”
“And quickly? I ask because I was hoping it might be done before I have to be in LA. So I’m not flying back and forth for court between filming.”
“And when is that?”
“End of April, ideally. First week of May at the latest.” Great. He may be gone for Heath’s birthday. We’d discuss that later, too.
“I see. Well, typically it would likely take longer than that just to make it through the dockets. But, I will petition to move it faster, due to your celebrity status and commitments.”
After that, Ed gives us a rundown of how the process will work. For court, there will be an initial hearing, to present the documents to the judge. A second hearing date, to show proof that we’ve met the terms of the prenup, financially (our accounts, Heath’s trust, etc). After that, likely the same day and directly following, will be the custody hearing. If all of that goes well, we a final hearing date, where the divorce is actually granted. We thank Ed for his time and walk out of the office together.
“When were you planning on telling me about Los Angeles?”
“I just found out this morning. Chris called a meeting, and dropped it on us.”
“I hate when he does that.” I hate everything about the business.
“I’m not a fan of it either. But, this does mean I have a question for you… and please feel free to say no. I won’t push it.”
I stop walking and turn to face him. I expected this as soon as Dom shared the LA news.
“Let me guess. You’d like to stay at the house until you have to be in LA. It’s only a few weeks.”
“Yes, if that won’t be a problem. If I have to find something, I will, I just—”
“It’s okay. You can stay.”
“Are you sure?”
“You stayed with me before we were together, I see no reason why you can’t after we’re not.”
“Valid point.” He grins, and I do too.
“Besides, it might make things easier on Heath. A slow change rather than you just being gone.” Dom nods in agreement. “And on a practical note, have you seen the prices of short term rentals in this area? It’s asinine.” Not that he couldn’t afford it, but it’s the principle.
“I have, actually. That’s partially why I asked. I don’t really care for the idea of feeding the carpetbaggers.”
“Spoken like a true transplant.” I grin. “It’s really fine. Just stay.”
“Thanks.”
Dom gets to his car, and I keep going to where I’m parked, further away. I’m going straight to the Academy for classes. As I drive, I think to myself that everything seemed pretty straightforward, and other than Hollywood giving me one last ‘fuck you’, easy. It almost seems too easy, and that makes me nervous. I know it’s silly, but I am who I am.
This can’t possibly be this easy.