“I’m sorry. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be happier here. But ... I’m still sad about the house being sold. That’s my home. I grew up in it.”
She actually sounded extremely sad. So sad, in fact, that Mom quickly untangled herself from me to rush over and wrap her arms around Ava instead, trying to soothe her with soft cooing words. It didn’t seem to work that well. I had no idea how much this meant to her. And, hearing the way Mom spoke to Ava, it became pretty clear that losing the house she raised her children in was hurting her just as much.
Watching this display, my thoughts drifted to the stack of cash in my bedroom. Now that their marriage counseling failed, it would be roughly a month before the judge worked through the petition and came up with a ruling. After that, there was a mandatory waiting period of sixty days before the divorce became final. That would give me three months. That is, if Aaron stopped fighting it.
Remembering the meeting with her lawyer, I knew there was no way I could clean enough cash to buy out Aaron by myself. Even if I found a way, I would still be a minor and couldn’t buy the house, though I suspected he wouldn’t let me buy it anyway. I also didn’t think I could take out a loan against the new house and condo to pay off Aaron through the holding John had created, because those two simply weren’t worth enough.
However, this was obviously extremely important for Mom and Ava. So, I made a quick decision, despite my better judgment.
“There’s one thing we really need to talk about with your lawyer.” I said, pulling Mom’s and Ava’s attention back to me.
“What is it?”
“The joint accounts. I have no clue how they’re handled in a divorce.”
“The what now?” Ava asked.
“In a divorce, they split their assets. That means everything that has value and either of their names on it. I’ve had a joint account with Mom and Aaron for a few years now, and I have another joint account with only Mom since January. When we opened the new one, I transferred what little money was left after Aaron paid for Logan’s tuition into the new account, but now I have no idea if we owe Aaron half of what was in there. I also don’t know if he’s entitled to half of what’s in the new one, since we opened that after she moved out, but before she started the divorce.”
“No! That’s entirely your money!” Mom protested. “That’s your salary. We never contributed a single cent to your bank accounts.”
“Yeah, but your names are still on the accounts.” I shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know if they count as yours.”
“Let me find out, then!” Mom declared, got off the couch, and walked into her bedroom to get her phone like I had hoped.
As soon as she stepped through the door, I seized the opportunity to get off the couch myself and walked into my own bedroom to call John, asking him to meet me in the condo the next day. I would have to be there anyway, since someone - namely me - had to assemble all the furniture the girls had picked out today.
By the time I finished the call and walked back into the living room, I found my visibly distraught mother sitting on the couch, a shell shocked expression on her face, while Ava was desperately trying to comfort her. When she noticed me coming closer, Mom’s expression turned to pure anguish.
“Darling ... I’m so sorry.” she pleaded. “You were right. Aaron’s going to get half of your money as well.”
“What!?” Ava shouted. “But ... you said you two never put any money into his accounts. That’s ... how!?”
“She said that, regardless of who deposited the money, it technically counts as part of my estate because the bank has me listed as a co-owner with unrestricted access. And therefore ... It’s a marital asset. If it was a savings account we opened for you as a child, or a custodial account, it would be safe. But...”
My mood soured the moment I heard the word “custodial”. Two years ago, when Mom took me to the bank to open that account with me, she wanted to open a custodial account. I fought her tooth and nail on it, because I didn’t want to have to ask for their permission every time I needed to use the money. The change in my mood must have been reflected on my face somehow, and Mom misinterpreted the reason for it. She immediately started crying while continuously apologizing for still causing so much trouble.
I swallowed my anger, sat back down next to her on the couch, and simply hugged her. It took a long time until she had cried herself out, though by that time, she had stopped apologizing. Instead, she had started basically begging me to not leave her over this.
I couldn’t believe how utterly broken she seemed. If nothing else, this just served as yet another proof of how frightened of losing me she truly was, making it clear how taxing the past few weeks had been on her. Though, to my surprise, I did not just feel compassion for her. Somehow, in the very back of my mind, I started feeling a little annoyed. Irritated, even. However, I did my best to not entertain that unexplained mood swing and concentrate on getting Mom to calm down.
“Mom, it’s okay. It’s not really your fault.” I said, trying to make my voice as soft as possible.
“No! It’s not! It’s not fair. He just took all of your money for Logan. You just started saving up again. And now it’s taken away again! I’m so sorry!” she just continued to sob.
This whole thing had backfired tremendously. I hadn’t really thought about the joint bank accounts, and Aaron getting half of my shit was as much of a surprise to me as it was to them. I only asked her to clear that with her lawyer to get her into her bedroom, so I could sneak away and call John. I didn’t want to make her feel even worse than she already had, and grew a little desperate - or more like impatient - to get her to stop crying.
“Mom! I was the one who demanded a joint account. The bank recommended you open a custodial account, but that would’ve meant I couldn’t do anything with the money without getting you or Aaron to sign off on it. I told you that this was my money, so I should have unrestricted access. This was my own decision. And I was also the one who encouraged you to start the divorce. None of this is your fault.”
Shifting the blame away from her caused her sobbing to lessen in intensity, but that was it. So, I changed tactics.
“Okay, look. Yes, it sucks. But I don’t blame you, and I’m pretty sure we’ll manage. If this is what it takes to be done with the whole deal, so be it. My bank account was steadily filling up, so it’ll continue to fill back up after this is over. And, honestly, ... it’s like you said. He just emptied it. There’s not much I’ll lose. Trust me, nothing will change.”
Almost all of this was a lie, of course. It pissed me off more than I could put into words that, thanks to the cash I had cleaned through my developer pages, Aaron would, once again, take thousands of dollars from me. And I couldn’t do anything about it besides trying to lessen the amount he’ll get.
If Mom or Ava suspected that I had just told them a white lie, neither of them chose to show it. Mom’s mood improved at least to the point where she finally stopped sobbing.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yeah. But, I admit that I’m less than thrilled about handing Aaron my hard earned money. So, tomorrow, we’re going to HCC and enroll. Both of us. That’ll be a little less he’s getting from me, and you can tell the judge that you’re in school instead of being unemployed.”
“Hm” was her entire reply, and also the last thing we heard from her for the rest of our time on the couch.
When it came time to go to bed, Mom was still clinging to my arm. That didn’t change when I got off the couch. I couldn’t tell if she was doing so to seek comfort or to literally hold on to me, but I felt myself reminded of the time I came home after being assaulted in front of the house. Back then, she also refused to let go of me, and, just like then, it caused mixed feelings in me as I still had no idea how to handle it. Though, I did remember how she wordlessly decided to crawl into bed with me that day, and, as expected, she did the same thing now.