The Song

Part Thirty-One

I was up, dressed, and in the kitchen with a cup of coffee by six in the morning. I hadn’t slept a wink and my head hurt like mad.

“You ok?” Aston asked as he came into the kitchen by half past.

“Fine, you?”

“I mean…” he shrugged, not fully answering the question.

I knew this day was going to be hard for him, and I really didn’t know what to do to make it better.

“Do you want me to cook breakfast?” I asked half-heartedly.

“Nah, just going to have some cereal,” Aston replied, grabbing down a box from the cupboard, “I’m not that hungry.”

“Did you sleep?”

“Not really.”

“Me neither,” I said.

“Oh?”

“That song,” I replied, “The one I played for you. There’s something about it.”

Aston smiled faintly at me, sitting across from me to eat his food. Neither of us said a word and soon he was going to shower and get ready. Our appointment to get the papers signed wasn’t till ten, so we did our best to avoid contact the rest of the morning.

At 9:30 we were both sitting awkwardly in Aston’s car, headed towards my mother’s office. I’d offered to go separately but he’d insisted on driving me. It must have been weird for him to drive me to sign papers to divorce him. He was being braver than I would have been.

At my Mum’s office we were sat in a conference room and given some coffee, told to wait for my mother to arrive.

“She’ll probably be forever,” I muttered.

“Yeah…”

“Sorry again about this,” I whispered to Aston, “But now you’ll have a chance to be with someone who remembers you.”

“Jess… What happens if you do remember though?” he asked.

“I’ll give you a call,” I smiled.

“Ok.”

He didn’t seem too keen on chatting so I left him to sit quietly and stare at the table in front of him.

“Hey guys!” a voice said breezily as the door was opened.

“Hi,” I said shortly, looking up to see Julia stood there with a massive folder in her hands. I had no idea she worked in my mother’s office. But then again, she was right, I’d never actually asked.

“Thought I’d come in and check to make sure you guys were ok.”

“We’re fine,” I bit out.

“Jess…” Julia sighed.

“You’re not magically forgiven for being a bitch to me last night,” I said, “You and Mum.”

“We’re just trying to help.”

“Well you aren’t,” I replied, taking Aston’s position and silently staring at the table.

“Right, ok…” she said, leaving the room without another word.

“She does care, you know,” Aston whispered.

“I don’t think so,” I replied, “She’s been acting a lot like Mum lately.”

“Give her a break, this has been hard for her too. Not just us.”

“I don’t want to talk about this Aston,” I muttered.

It wasn’t for another twenty minutes that my Mum finally showed her face, followed by a portly man who I could only assume was the judge to make this whole event official.

“Good morning Jessica,” my mother said, sitting down next to me at the table.

“Mum.”

“Feeling any better after last night?”

“Nope. Let’s just do this and be done.”

“Fine,” my Mum said, turning to Aston, “Is your lawyer coming?”

“No.”

“You’re positive,” my mother asked him, a bit shocked that he was doing this alone.

“It’s fine,” Aston said, “Let’s just… do this.”

I heard him take a deep breath and then the papers with the terms of our divorce were passed in front of us.

“So we’ll start by reviewing the terms of this document,” the judge said, beginning to drone on as he read down the form.

I didn’t hear a word he said though, my throat constricting as I read down the lines of assets and other settlements.

Half of Aston’s money?

The house?

A car?

It went on and on, all of his stuff being given to me.

I couldn’t take any of this. My ears were ringing as I realized what was happening around me. My mother seemed pleased, like she’d just won some great battle. Aston, he looked about ready to be sick all over the table in front of him.

“Hang on!” I said, pushing back from the table, “I need a minute.”

“Jessica!” my mother said.

“Just hold on,” I said, standing up and leaving the room.

I could still remember my mother’s office. The sleek desks and shiny floors. It was one of the classiest and scariest office buildings in London, and now I was starting to realize why.

I couldn’t let her do this to Aston. I knew she was a scary, powerful attorney, but taking his things was too much. I was supposed to be giving him a chance to be happy, not ruining his life by putting him on the streets!

Or was this what my mother wanted all along? To ruin him? Did she think I was going to give her some of his money?

I was so confused.

Without even thinking what I was doing I pushed my way clear out of the building and stood on the sidewalk, taking deep breaths of cool, wet London air.

This wasn’t right. This wasn’t what I wanted. And in that moment I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to fix things.

“Jess!” a voice called. I saw my sister come running towards me, a worried look on her face.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you ok? I know it’s hard…”

“It’s not over yet.”

“Why are you out here then?” she asked.

“Did you see the terms of the divorce?” I asked.

“No. Mum sorted those with Aston’s lawyer. I wasn’t allowed.”

“It’s awful.”

“Awful how?” Julia asked.

“His house. One of his cars. And half his money…”

“Ouch.”

“Julia it wasn’t meant to be like this,” I said, “Why is it so horrible?”

“Mum hates Aston.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “Maybe she’s jealous about how much money he makes? Or that he’s famous?”

“Or maybe deep down she’s jealous that I was happily married and she wasn’t?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Julia said.

“I don’t want her to win,” I sighed.

“So what are you going to do?” Julia asked me.

I stared at her for a second, not totally sure I was catching what she was saying. Whatever it was, I had a sneaking suspicion that like my mother, my sister was up to something too.