Broken

Eight.

A few weeks later, Jake and I already had our own lawyers. Jake had the most powerful divorce attorney in Los Angeles, Laura Wesser, and I had the second most powerful, Michael Ernest.
We signed the paperwork, Jake willingly paid thousands to get the divorce started. He paid even more to keep it quiet. I had been staying at our house while he stayed with his sister. He would only come back when I was gone to pick up things he needed and to see the dogs.
He made his sad attempts to fix things by leaving roses and love notes around the house. I would make sure a piece of the rose was sticking out of the trash can so he could see it.
His mom and his sister tried to fix things too. After numerous phone calls, I pleaded to them to stop. I couldn't bring myself to admit to them why the marriage was over. I wanted Jake to tell them.

During the first few weeks of the world seeing us doing things separately, without our rings on, I wasn't surprised when social media started getting nosy. I had a lot of followers on Instagram and Twitter. The constant questions and speculations from my fans broke my heart more than the divorce. My lawyer constantly reminded me to 'get through this the smart way'.
Filming was awkward but we somehow got through a few more scenes together. I was relieved I didn't write any intimate scenes between John and Alice until further into the script. We easily avoided each other on set so I spent most of the time hanging out with Mykie and Chris.

I changed out of yet another tight dress in my trailer. It felt good to strip out of the damn thing so I could finally breathe. I returned it to a hanger when I heard the text tone on my phone go off a few times. I hung the dress in the small wardrobe closet.
I walked across the trailer, wrapping a long silk robe around my body and tying the belt of the same material tight around my waist. Jake's lawyer's name on the screen, followed by Chris' name, my lawyer's and Jake's in a group text. I rolled my eyes and unlocked my phone. I read the text to myself:

My client, Jacob Gyllenhaal, requests to meet with Chris Evans, Sarah Rose and Michael Ernest on Tuesday, April 18th, 9:00am, at my office. Please send an email in response to this message to agree to the meeting.

I held the phone in hand, squinting my eyes at nothing as I tried to comprehend what Jake was up to. The phone locked before another text notification appeared. This time from just Chris.

So much for a day off tomorrow 🤔

I giggled at the text. I replied with a grimacing emoji and the dog's face emoji. We had the inside joke between each other that we always referred to Jake as a dog. I threw my phone into my purse so I could get dressed.

***

Chris, Michael and I sat on one side of a long table in an empty conference room. Chris sat on my left with Michael on my right. We talked up a storm in the parking lot but didn't say a word to each other once inside. Michael checked his watch.

"You would think they would be early since it was their idea to do this." I said breaking the silence but keeping my voice down. Michael cleared his throat.
"They're only late by a few minutes." He tried to justify their actions. I shook my head, puckering my lips in annoyance.
"Common courtesy." Chris chimed in. I nodded to my head to him and looked into his eyes. I admired their blue color since it was the first time seeing them without a baseball hat shading them away.
"You know what they say..." Michael leaned toward us. Chris and I both turned to him. "...common sense is not common."

"Unless you have to deal with seven angry clients for pushing their court date out for an emergency meeting." Laura said entering the room with Jake trailing behind her.
"I have other clients too, Wesser. I was early." Michael's snarky tone made me smile at him.
"Thank you for being prompt." Her petite frame plopped into the massive office chair, directly in front of Michael. She motioned with her hand for Jake to sit to her left but he sat in the chair in front of me. His sad eyes with his elongated face met mine. I blinked my eyes away to watch Laura bring papers out of a Manila envelope. She handed a stapled packet to each of us. I glanced at the words on the paper.

"What is this?" I said to Jake. He opened his mouth to talk but Laura stopped him by tapping his shoulder with her hand.
"My client wishes to immediately remove himself from the production titled 'The Boss'." My breathing quickened, contorting my face. Laura flipped through the packet. "As you can see from page six: the production company, Focus Features, has already agreed to remove my client from anything that has been filmed and to pay him for the work he has done." She flipped to another page. "All we need is the three of your signatures on page eight and we will be done here." I shook my head slowly, holding the packet in my hands.
"Jake?" I cocked my head to try to meet his eyes. He continued to avoid my eyes. "Jake...what are you doing?" Michael tapped the table in front of me with his hand. I ignored him. "What are you doing?!" I tried again.

"Any questions for my client will be directed toward me." Laura barked.
"Bullshit. He's sitting right here!" I snapped back. Michael leaned into my ear.
"Get through this the smart way." He whispered. I grunted and angrily sat back into my chair. "Please continue." He said to Laura. Laura flared her nostrils at me and returned her eyes to Michael.
"My client will also be selling the house that he once shared with your client so we expect for your client to vacate the premises before it's put on the market in two weeks."
"We already agreed to wait until the end of filming!" I screeched. Michael shrugged his shoulders.
"He owns the house." He said to me. I sat up, raising my voice again.

"Where am I supposed to go, Jacob!"
"Anything you need to say to my client—"
"I heard you the first time!" My outburst angered her.
"Are we done here?" The first words from Jake were raspy. She nodded to him. They both stood up. I kept my eyes on Jake as they filled with tears.
"Leave the paperwork on the table. Please leave in fifteen minutes or I'll call security."
"There is no need for that, Wesser."
"Let's hope not, Ernest." She held the door open for Jake.
"Jake.." I stood up from my chair, whispering his name. He froze in the doorway and closed his eyes. "Jacob." I tried again, a little louder.
"Happy birthday, Sarah." He said, softly to the ground. He shook his head as he was literally pushed out the door by Laura.

Chris and Michael expressed their disbelief and anger in what had just happened. I sat back into my chair. Silent.
I watched the both of them as they happily signed their names on the instructed lines and threw their pens into the middle of the table.
I held the pen between my fingers, staring at my typed name under the line. I let out a deep sigh and signed my name.
"I'll walk you to your car." Michael insisted, standing from his chair.

"No, it's okay. I'm going to sit here for a minute." I thanked Michael and shook his hand. Chris did the same before Michael left the room. I fell back into the chair again, rubbing my forehead.
"What are we going to do, Chris?" I could see him turning his head to me. "Replacing him and shooting everything again is going to prolong production even more."
"Don't worry about that. That's my job." He nudged my arm with his hand, smiling.
"Tom Hardy had a lot of interest in the role. We can try him."
"Hey.." I looked into his soft eyes. "..that's my job." His smile widened, bringing light back to his face and brightening his eyes. I let a gentle smile curl my lips. "I'm sorry about this." He pushed the papers away from me.
"Don't be sorry." I wiped a tear from my eye. "You're not the one that cheated on his wife." His smile abruptly disappeared.
"What?"

"Yup." I bit my lip nervously with revealing the truth to him. More tears started building in my eyes. I could feel his eyes on me.
"There's no crying allowed on your birthday." He said, nudging my arm again. I smiled and let out a giggle. "I think you need a birthday beer."
"It's not even 10am yet!" I laughed, wiping more tears away. He shrugged his shoulders, throwing his hands in the air.
"It's 5 o'clock somewhere!" We laughed and stood up from our chairs to finally leave from the room.