As I headed home, I realized I needed to get my emotions under control if I planned to be effective in today’s meeting. I needed to keep my wits about me and not let my feelings rule my decisions today. In the big scheme of things, Cal didn’t really mean all that much to me. The person who would be in my life was Pam, and frankly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her right now. It would take us some time to repair the damage that had been done. I just hoped that she hadn’t been an active participant in all of this.
◊◊◊
I went to Rachel’s cross-country meet at State. They held it at the University Golf Course. As I walked through the crowd, it was funny to see twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls react to me. For the most part, they were giggling messes. A few gave me looks that made me nervous. I was glad when I found Rachel, and she was all smiles.
“You made it!”
“I told you I’d be here. Are you ready?” I asked.
“I was about to stretch. Can you help me?” she asked.
I smiled inwardly because I could imagine what the other girls would think. I simply nodded and helped her get ready. Rachel seemed to be nervous, and it was getting to her. This was her first really important meet, and she wanted to do well. I quietly talked to her about running her race, and not being caught up in anyone that took off at too fast a pace. I explained the necessity to avoid the bunch-up at the beginning. I had learned all this from talking to Peggy. She had told me that elbows tended to fly and people got tripped up in the chaos of the start.
Rachel’s coach came over and gave her almost the same advice. She must have taken our advice to heart because at the start she avoided most of the trouble. Two girls took nasty spills when someone stepped on their heels as everyone bunched up.
Rachel had a naturally long stride that ate up a lot of ground. For her age, she was fast. She had settled into a comfortable pace, but I could see it wasn’t fast enough. The race wound around the golf course, so I took a shortcut and caught Rachel at about the one-mile mark.
“Speed up!” I called out.
Rachel looked up in surprise and smiled. She picked up her pace and started to get out of her comfort zone. I ran along the edge of the course beside her.
“Don’t overdo it, but concentrate on your speed,” I said, and she nodded.
I let her go and then headed to the finish line to wait for her. Rachel ran a heck of a race and finished eighth. She had knocked twelve seconds off her personal best. I gave her a hug and then had to go. I had a one o’clock meeting that I dreaded.
◊◊◊
When I came home, I made a quick salad for lunch, and then Mom, Dad, and I drove to the meeting at Mr. Fox’s office. He had an office in one of those places where you shared office space with other people. Mom’s real estate company had started to utilize the concept. It was actually a smart business model. You only rented an office when you needed it. It had everything you wanted as far as furniture, Internet, printers, scanners, and copiers. It also came with a receptionist and conference rooms that rented by the hour.
Mom could run her real estate business with her laptop and cell phone. The only time she really needed an office was when she met clients. There were a few of these offices throughout the county so Mom could use one near where she planned to show homes.
Since it was Saturday, there wasn’t a receptionist. That forced Mr. Fox to wait out front for us. It pretty well ruined his cool, big-shot lawyer image. We found Ms. Dixon waiting for us. She gave me a tight smile.
“Remember to keep your cool,” she warned us.
Tom, Kendal, Don, and Roy joined us. I looked at Ms. Dixon, and she just shook her head at me. I got the message to keep my mouth shut. We hadn’t invited them. I think they were worried and wanted to play mediator to make sure this didn’t get out of hand.
Once everyone was seated, Mr. Fox, Cal, and Pam made their grand entrance. Pam wouldn’t even look at me, and as soon as she was in her chair, she stared down at the table. Her body language just screamed that she didn’t want to be here. For that matter, I didn’t either. I also noticed that Pam hadn’t worn any makeup, and her black eye was visible. Mr. Fox sneered at me when he saw I noticed, and I about ended his life right then and there, but my mom grabbed my arm when I stiffened. Cal had a big smile on his face when he thought they had scored points by getting me upset so easily. I took a moment to push my anger down. I vowed I would not give them the satisfaction of getting to me again.
“I want to thank everyone for coming today. I think we need to establish some ground rules before we get started,” Don Rigby said.
“Mr. Rigby, let’s make this simple: you and the rest of your staff sit quietly and observe,” Ms. Dixon said.
“But we’re here to help facilitate a satisfactory outcome for everyone,” Don sputtered.
“Don, we’ve hired Ms. Dixon to represent David in this matter. Let her do her job,” Dad said.
“Okay, Mr. Fox, let’s hear what you want,” Ms. Dixon said. “But since Rigby, Thompson and Associates have representatives here as observers, I also want it explicitly understood this meeting will not be confidential, and that anything said or disclosed here will not necessarily be treated as confidential and may be used in appropriate proceedings and venues.”
Tom, Don, and Roy looked startled at this, and Don looked like he was going to say something, but apparently decided it best to sit back and keep his mouth shut. He definitely wanted to be there. The sad part was, it was solely to protect his firm, and not to protect me, their client.
“Fine by me,” Mr. Fox said as he smirked.
I think he planned to shout the results of this meeting from the rooftops. Cal, to his credit, didn’t seem so sure of this revelation but didn’t say anything.
Ms. Dixon’s abrupt manner still had Mr. Fox a bit off-kilter, but this wasn’t Cal’s first big case. It quickly became clear that Mr. Fox merely served as window dressing. Cal ignored him and started to negotiate directly with Ms. Dixon. Over the next hour, it became clear that Cal expected that I foot the bill for all of Pam’s medical expenses during the pregnancy. He also wanted me to pay for any maternity clothes or any other items she might need. Once the baby was born, I would be responsible for child support to the tune of 35 percent of my income, a full 10 to 15 percent higher than was customary. I would also have no visitation rights.
Ms. Dixon calmly took all this in and started to probe Cal. Her questioning revealed that Pam was covered under their current medical plan.
“Mr. Bell, you need to be more honest in your negotiations, or we’ll do this the hard way, and you can take us to court. Of course, that means you won’t get a penny until paternity can be established,” Ms. Dixon asserted.
Over the next hour, I learned that lawyers could and would argue about anything and everything. Truthfully, I zoned out. I was half-listening when Mr. Fox interrupted.
“That’s not right,” he said, and then quoted a figure for something.
“Where did you get that figure?” Dad asked, perplexed.
“It’s right here,” he said and handed Dad a sheet of paper. Dad glanced at it, then looked at it closely, puzzled, and passed it to me.
“Have you ever seen this before?”
Cal lunged for the sheet, but I pulled it back out of reach and examined it. It looked like one of the spreadsheets I’d seen when we’d come to the firm to get the financial information to support the loan on my farm. Then I looked at the bottom, and my eyes froze. It had the same type of coding I’d seen on the backup financials Megan, one of Kendal’s helpers, had insisted on shredding in my presence at the end of that meeting.