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TWENTY-SIX
Summer
I feellike I’ve been sitting here on this highly uncomfortable bench for days. Would it be possible that sitting on such a hard surface would mold my ass to a flat surface itself?
I lean to the side, my head hitting the shoulder of the mediation lawyer for Shaw.
“Sorry,” I whisper to her.
She’s nice, a little straight edge, but pleasant in her demeanor, and she genuinely seems to understand and care about her clients.
“You should get up, move around. I’m sure that it will be awhile before they emerge.”
“How long do these things usually last?” I ask standing up, turning to face her and stretching.
“It differs on the complexity of the case and how agreeable both parties are,” she offers.
“Great, we’ll be here forever.” I grumble tightening my pony tail.
I look down to where Marie’s boyfriend, Connor is perched on his chair and his head is on his hand, asleep.
Lucky bastard! How is it that men can fall asleep anywhere?
The doors open to the mediation room and I instantly turn around, stand tall and wait for Shaw to emerge. The mediator walks out calmly and then steps aside to let Marie stomp out of the room angrily. Shaw walks out a moment later, shakes hands, says something to the mediator and then walks to me.
I can’t tell by the expression on his face, what happened and it’s killing me.
He walks into my arms and pushes his head against my neck.
Uncertain of what’s happening, I hug him back and wait for him to confide in me.
After a few moments, he pulls away and with a forced smile on his face, he leans in and gently kisses my lips.
He pulls out of my arms and his mediation lawyer stands.
“So, the mediator stated that Marie’s requests to gain full custody was ludicrous. Basically, there are no grounds that specify that our arrangement should change based on her requests. However, we will be going to court, because she flipped a lid when I brought up my counter of half time. I proposed a few schedules and well, we’ll just say that she didn’t like them.”
“So, that’s great. You won that portion, now it comes to proving the importance of the time split equally. It will be stressful and time consuming, so I would implore that you assure that you’re ready and have the support at home.” The mediation lawyer says.
I look over to where Marie’s boyfriend was sleeping in the chair, they are nowhere to been seen. I can only imagine the anger that she’s feeling. Thinking that she had the hand up over ridiculous claims, when the tables got turned.
My gaze returns to Shaw. “So, what’s next?” I ask.
“We’ll get a court date. I’ll set up an appointment to meet with the other lawyer and then showtime,” He replies.
He’s confident and in a decent mood which is the complete opposite than before he went into that room.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says holding his hand out to me.
I receiveda text message from Colin, wanting to talk. To give closure to the whole situation, I agreed to meet at a coffee shop close to the book store to make it more convenient for myself.
I sat outside for twenty minutes before he showed up late. He leans in to hug me, but I hold out my hand for him to stop.
“I would rather not,” I say quietly for only him to hear.
He nods and takes the seat in front of me, crosses his arms over his chest and leans back. His entire posture is that of an annoyed juvenile, as if him being here is forced upon him. I take a deep breath, lean forward and give him a fake smile.
“Colin, what is it that you wanted to talk about? I need to get back to my shop.”
