Case Closed, Marriage Over

The sight of Dad walking away with his shoulders slumped lit a fire in my chest, burning through the last of my restraint.

I stormed back into the office, snatched the thesis pages off the desk, and tore them to shreds.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Claire Doyle shot to her feet.

I asked, furious, "Why wouldn't you take my dad's case? Do you have any idea how long he waited outside for you?"

"I'm busy. I don't have time for one of your scenes."

"Busy? You have time to edit your intern's thesis, but you couldn't spare five minutes to look over my dad's contract?"

I let out a bitter laugh. The irony was almost too much to take.

"I'm a lawyer, not a charity." Claire's voice turned cold. "Do you know what I charge per hour? I'd lose money taking your dad's case."

"But he's my dad!" I shouted.

"So what?"

Claire's voice sharpened.

"Everyone is equal under the law. Am I supposed to ignore professional boundaries just because he's family? If I take this case today, what will everyone else at the firm think? How am I supposed to keep working in this field?"

I scoffed. "Do you even remember why you became a lawyer?"

She froze.

I instinctively leaned back, staring at her as though she were a stranger.

Somewhere along the way, the Claire who used to spend hours researching labor laws for abandoned children, who once fought to make sure even cases involving abused animals were heard, the Claire I'd fallen in love with over and over again, had disappeared.

"We have to be realistic, Josh. We can't keep living in the past."

Ignoring her cold tone, I pressed, "Realistic enough to turn your back on your own family?"

"Can you at least try to be reasonable?" She snapped her laptop shut. "I'm buried in cases right now. I really don't have time to deal with your dad's mess."

She didn't have time?

I stared at the thesis pages scattered across the desk, every inch covered in her handwritten notes.

Suddenly, I had no desire to argue with her anymore. "Let's get a divorce."

She froze.

"Wh-what did you just say?"

"I said if this is who we are now, we should get divorced."

Saying it didn't hurt nearly as much as I had expected. Instead, it felt as though a weight had finally lifted from my chest.

Completely calm, I turned and walked out of the office.

Dad hadn't made it far. Refusing to give up, he went from office to office throughout the building, asking, "Excuse me, do you take cases like mine?"

The moment they heard the defendant was Nicholas Webb, a notorious deadbeat, they waved him off and sent him away.

The 104-degree heat beat down on Dad, leaving him exhausted and painfully alone.

I clenched my fists and ran after him.

"Dad, don't worry. I'll figure something out."

Dad looked startled when he saw me. He quickly raised a hand to shield me from the sun.

"It's too hot out here. Why'd you come after me? I was only trying my luck. It's no big deal."

Trying his luck.

He had ridden a bus for six hours and climbed twenty flights of stairs just to try his luck?

I opened my mouth, ready to tell him about the divorce, when his phone rang.

"Hello, Mr. Cooper. My name is Mark Fleming. Ms. Doyle assigned me to handle your case."

The moment the call ended, a smile spread across Dad's weathered face.

"Josh, did you hear that? Claire sent someone to help me! I told you she's not a bad person. She's just busy!"

As soon as he finished speaking, my phone buzzed twice.

[I've already assigned Mark to handle your dad's case. Don't throw around the word divorce again.]

I stared at the message for a moment, then looked up to see Dad grinning as he pulled two bunches of grapes from his bag.

"Your mom went out to the vineyard first thing this morning and picked these herself. She chose the ripest bunches because she knows you and Claire like your grapes sweet. Take them home and share them with Claire. And don't fight with her..."

My eyes burned again as I clutched the two bunches of grapes to my chest.

"Don't worry, Dad. Once the lawsuit is over…"

I meant, once Claire and I were divorced.

"I'll never let anyone treat you like this again."