“Yes,” Evelyn replied.
“All documents and communications will be retained.”
Robert pushed away from the table.
“There’s no need for that.”
“There is every need,” I said.
Diane looked at me with open hatred now.
“You would embarrass your husband over paperwork?”
“You invited twelve people to watch you take my house.”
“We were giving you a way out.”
“Of a home I own.”
“You are impossible.”
“No.
I am refusing.”
The word landed harder than shouting would have.
Diane had built the entire evening around the belief that I would never say it in front of witnesses.
I picked up the folder and returned it to my bag.
Mark’s chair scraped back.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“We came together.”
“That was before I learned you had tried to sell my house.”
His expression shifted from anger to fear.
“Sloane, don’t do this here.”
“You did it here.”
I thanked Evelyn and ended the call.
Then I stood, took my coat from the back of the chair, and looked once around the table.
No one applauded.
Diane’s church friend whispered my name, but I kept walking.
Mark followed me through the hallway.
Behind us, Diane hissed, “Let her go.
She’ll calm down.”
I stopped at the front door.
Mark nearly collided with me.
“When I get home,” I said, “will you already be there?”
He blinked.
“What?”
“I need to know whether I should wait in the driveway while you pack.”
His face changed.
“You can’t throw me out.”
“I can ask you to leave.
Tonight, I am asking.”
“This is my home too.”
“It was our home until you tried to transfer it without me.”
Rain blew through the doorway when I opened it.
Mark lowered his voice.
“My mother pressured me.”
“You sent the emails.”
“She made it sound reasonable.”
“You wrote that I was manageable.”
He looked down.
That silence was the closest he came to admitting the truth.
I drove home alone.
For the first few miles, my hands remained steady on the steering wheel.
Then I reached a red light and saw our wedding ring reflected in the windshield.
I cried there, quietly, while the signal changed twice.
Not because Diane had failed to take my house.
