“I assume your new home is Jacksonville?” she asks.
“No. My home is me. It’s been me all along. I am everything I need. I am enough just as I am. I am smart and driven. I’m kind. I’m passionate and funny and sexy as hell.” I square my shoulders, confidence flowing through me. “I came to Jacksonville to be closer to Rachel. I thought she was my home. But I was wrong. She’s just the first person to hold up a mirror and show me that I’m enough.”
“And this new young man?” she presses, one brow raised.
My smile widens. “He’s my mirror ball. His every surface reflects my perfections back at me. He loves me for exactly who I am. I’m not too loud for him or too opinionated. He doesn’t cringe when I tell jokes because he’s worried I’m funnier than him, pulling away his spotlight. He lets my light shine out as brightly as I want, and he shines it all back on me. I have never known a love or an acceptance of self like I have with Ryan.”
“Well,” she says, emotion thick in her throat. “It sounds like you got everything you always wanted, then.”
I nod. “I’m happy now, yes. And I’m free. Even without these,” I add, tapping the divorce papers. “I was already free in my heart. These free me on paper, too, the last chains tying me down to the rotting edifice of the life I thought I wanted.”
“Rotting edifice?” she says with a raised brow. “Hardly flattering.”
“Well, if the Manolo Blahnik leather slingback fits,” I reply with a shrug.
She sighs, glancing around the small office as she shifts her Kelly onto her arm. “I need your word it ends here. I need to know you won’t retaliate against Troy.”
I purse my lips, glancing down at my phone on the desk. No message from Ryan yet. Right now, he’s in Cincinnati going to the PFH office, pressing Troy to sign the papers. My window is closing. If ever I wanted to claim something from Bea Owens, now is my chance.
I square my shoulders at her, hands on my hips. “On the phone, I told you I had a plan for how we all walk away clean. You didn’t believe me. You sided with Troy. And now you’re implicated in his legal malpractice.”
“Tess—”
I raise a hand to silence her. “Let’s not beat around the bush here. All I have to do is say the word, and my lawyer will come down on you both. I’m the one with the leverage now, not you.”
“So, what do you want, Tess?” she says, her words clipped. “How do I make this stop here?”
“You both need to agree to go to therapy,” I say without missing a beat.
Her eyes go wide. “Therapy?”
“Troy needs intervention, Bea. He needs help that you can’t give him. And you need help too. Because the way you love him is hurting him. He needs to be held accountable for his actions. Set boundaries. Enact consequences. A therapist can give you the tools to better engage with him. He needs you, Bea. You’re the only person I think he truly cares about. Help him.”
“So…what? We go to therapy and send you proof of our sessions?”
I nod. “Yeah—well, no. Don’t send the proof to me. After today, I want no contact with either of you. Send it to my lawyer. Biweekly sessions for the next year. Go, learn tools for managing a healthier relationship with your son.”
She arches a brow. “And if I say no?”
“Then I press charges.”
Her frown deepens as her lips purse. “And if I can’t convince him to go as well?”
“Then I press charges,” I repeat. “See? Boundaries and consequences.”
She considers for a moment. “Fine. Consider it done. Anything else?”
I smile, my eyes locked on the framed sea turtle poster behind her head. “Yeah…make a donation to Out of the Net.” I let my gaze slide back to her, soaking in her surprised face. “And whatever the number is in your head right now, double it.”
“Sea turtles?” She gives a sad little shake of her head. “I can see your time with me has truly taught you nothing. You have a knife to my throat, and your only demand is that I go to therapy and donate to this nonprofit?”
Her words settle deep in my chest, and I realize she’s right. Thirteen years in her shadow, and I survived. I’m still me. I wouldn’t say she taught me nothing, but her lessons have left only scars. I will heal. I am healing.
I beam at her, my heart feeling ten times lighter. “Yep. Make the donation, make it truly outrageous, and I’ll even issue a joint statement with Troy that you can share with all your friends and associates. We’ll say we parted in friendship and that our families remain close as I move on to pursue new philanthropic endeavors.”