"Rick and his firm," she said softly.
He looked relieved. "Oh." Obviously he didn't consider Rick was going to give his lawyer any difficulty. "Okay, I'll have Raoul call him on Monday."
"Do you want me to tell the children?" she asked.
"Yeah. They'll understand, and it's better coming from you, Nora. When they see how on board you are with this, they won't be so angry." Then he grew wary again. "You're not going to blame me for this, are you? I don't want you turning the kids against me over this. Hell, they must have seen how it was between us these last years."
"You're their father, Jeff. Sadly I can't change that," Nora told him.
"You were hot to be my wife," he answered crudely. "If I hadn't been certain of your virginity when we married, I would have really wondered about you, Nora. But then you were always my good girl, weren't you?"
"The girls in my generation were raised to wait, Jeff. How clever of you to understand that. But that doesn't mean we don't like sex," Nora replied. The arrogant son of a bitch, she thought. He had always been like this, and she just hadn't seen it.
"Like sex?" He laughed. "You haven't had sex since I last banged you. Do you even remember when that was?"
"I don't remember nonevents," Nora answered him softly.
"You know, you're turning into a real bitch," he said, and then he stood up.
Nora laughed. "Good!" she told him.
"I'm going to go back into town tonight," he said. "Drive me to the station."
"Call a cab," Nora responded. "As of this moment, I am no longer at your service, my lord. Tell me, does your girlfriend cater to you the way I always have? Or is it her independence and fuck-you attitude that turns you on, Jeff?" There was just the hint of a smile playing about her lips as she saw his jaw tighten.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the local cab company, ordering his transportation. Then he said to her, "I'll wait out front."
"Aren't you afraid of what the neighbors will say?" Nora taunted him.
"Oh, I think they already know," he snapped back at her. "Even your friend Carla isn't as dumb as you've been, Nora."
"I trusted you, you bastard!" Her anger rose up.
"Like I said, Nora, dumb," he told her, and then he walked out the door.
She stood in her foyer for the briefest moment, shaking. Then she shut the door firmly behind him. She hated him. She never wanted to see him again. How could she have fallen in love with him all those years ago? Dumb! Yes, damnit, she had been dumb! But she wasn't going to be dumb anymore. And if he thought he was going to get away with leaving her in poverty, he was sadly mistaken. What was it Ivana Trump had once said? "Don't get mad. Get everything." Well, she didn't want everything, but she wanted her house. And alimony until she could get on her feet. The house should be hers. But she wouldn't take a penny more from Jeff than it took to get her started moving in a new direction. And the kids' schooling had to be paid for because she didn't want them starting out burdened by debt. Especially Jill. Law school wasn't cheap, but at least her daughter would be able to support herself if she turned out to be as dumb as her mother where men were concerned. Jeff couldn't leave their children out in the cold. His children. What if the girlfriend had a child? Well, God help her if she did, Nora thought.
She needed The Channel tonight. She wanted to get away from all of this, and be the woman she really was. But J. J. would be home by midnight. Unless, she considered, she told him he could stay over at one of his buddies'. She heard a car honk outside, and peering through one of the sidelights edging the front door, she saw her husband hurrying to get into a Cassandra's cab. Schmuck, she thought, using one of Rina's favorite terms. Nora turned to go into the den so she could call The Channel and escape from all this nasty reality.
"Nora!" The back door slammed shut.
Damn! She said the word silently. It was Carla.
"What happened?" Carla came into the hall. "I saw Jeff leaving."
"He's asked for the divorce," Nora said sanguinely. "And he thought he'd just have his lawyer draw up the papers so I could sign them." Then she laughed. "You should have seen the look on his face when I said his lawyer should contact my lawyer."
"The bastard!" Carla exploded.
"No, it's alright. I almost feel relieved now that it's happened. I've been such a naive little fool all these years, Carla. With Jill going to law school and J. J. off to college, what would I do with myself? Join the Garden Club? The Egret Pointe Ladies' Reading Circle? I'm only just realizing how out of touch with reality I truly am."
"You are not out of touch with reality!" Carla responded loyally.
"Yes, I am," Nora answered quietly. "I've got a college degree, and yet I've spent the last quarter of a century looking after the needs of a selfish man, and two children. I have no idea how to operate a computer, or program the VCR. But I'm going to learn, Carla. And I'm going to survive on my own, and pay my own way. Not at first, but eventually. I'm glad to be rid of Jeff. I don't really know him anymore, but what I do know, I don't like."
"Oh, honey!" Carla put her arms about her friend and hugged her.
"Now if you're convinced that I'm not going to kill myself, get out of here," Nora said, drawing away from the other woman. "I'm going to let my son stay over with his buddies tonight, and I'm going to get The Channel."
Carla giggled. "Yeah," she replied with a grin, "a good screwing always makes a girl feel a whole lot better. Have fun! Oh, Rick says come into the office on Monday at eleven a.m. so he can get started on protecting you in this mess. Night!" And she was gone with a wave of her hand.
Nora heard the door slam behind Carla as she left. She went into the kitchen and turned the lock. Then she went into the den and called the house where the party J. J. was attending was being held. It took a while, but finally someone picked up the telephone.
"If you're bringing more beer, come on over!" the voice said.
She could hear the thumpa-thumpa of the music in the background. "It's Mrs. Buckley. Find J. J. for me, Peter," she told him.
"Oh, gee, Mrs. B. just kidding," he replied.
Nora laughed. "Just don't go driving, okay?" she said.
"I'll get J. J.," Peter responded.
She waited, not surprised that Peter Mulligan's parents weren't there. They were a very liberal, let's-be-friends-with-the-kids type. And being friends with your son meant few, if any, rules and regs. She began to have second thoughts about letting J. J. stay out.
"Ma? Is everything alright?" J. J. sounded anxious. He was really such a sweet kid.
"If I let you stay over with someone," Nora said, "who would it be?"
"I don't have to come home tonight?" J. J.'s voice was excited.
"Answer the question, J. J.," Nora said.
"The twins, Mike and Joe Carter, asked me," J. J. said.
"I'll call the Carters and tell them if it's okay with them, it's okay with me," Nora told her son. The Carters were stricter than she was.
"Ma? Why?" His voice sounded so young, and he really wasn't that young anymore. He was heading to college in a few weeks. "You sure everything is okay?"
"Everything is fine, J. J. But you're eighteen now. It's almost graduation, and I remember how I wanted to be with my friends then. I mean by summer's end you'll all be scattering, honey. So I decided it was time I was a little less uptight. If you don't hear back from me, just go along with the twins. I'll see you sometime tomorrow."
"Ma, you are the greatest!" he said, and hung up.
Nora chuckled. Ma was horny. She reached for her school list to get the Carters' telephone number and, finding it, punched the number in, humming under her breath as she waited for someone to answer.
"Hello?" It was Marian Carter.
"Marian, Nora Buckley. J. J. said the twins invited him to spend the night. Is that alright with you?"
"Of course it is, and they have a twelve thirty a.m. curfew," Marian Carter said. "I hope you don't think that's too late, but it's such a special time for them."