Chapter 9 - The Settlement of Accounts
Six months later, the spring sun was shining brightly across downtown Richmond as Sarah Jenkins’s executive assistant ushered me into the firm's private conference room for the final post-decree accounting review.
I wore a tailored navy blazer, crisp white linen trousers, and simple gold stud earrings. My hair was cut into a sleek, shoulder-length bob, and my skin had regained the warm, healthy glow that nine years of chronic domestic anxiety had stolen from me.
Sarah stood up, greeting me with a warm, genuine hug. "Claire. You look magnificent. Colorado agrees with you."
"Colorado is peace," I smiled, sitting down at the table where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting. "Tell me the final numbers, Sarah. Let’s close this book permanently."
Sarah opened a thick, red-stamped binder.
"The bankruptcy liquidation of Cole Family Catering is officially complete," Sarah began, turning to the master balance sheet. "All twenty-eight former employees received their full back wages, accrued vacation pay, and statutory severance bonuses, funded directly from the liquidation of the commercial equipment."
"And the vendors?"
"Paid at seventy-eight cents on the dollar through the bankruptcy estate," Sarah replied. "Richard’s personal confession of judgment has been partially satisfied through the surrender of his luxury sports car, his private watch collection, and the liquidation of the Fort Myers condo escrow."
"Where is Richard now?" I asked, surprised by how detached I felt. Asking about him felt like asking about a distant acquaintance from high school whose name I barely remembered.
Sarah smiled thinly. "Richard is currently living in a modest basement apartment in Roanoke, working as a regional route manager for a commercial linen supply company. He spends fifty hours a week driving a delivery van between budget hotels and laundromats. Under the terms of the restitution order, twenty-five percent of his gross wages are automatically garnished every two weeks and deposited into your account."
"How much has he paid so far?"
"Approximately four thousand two hundred dollars," Sarah said with a dry chuckle. "At his current earning capacity, he will finish paying off his debt to you when he is approximately eighty-seven years old."
"And Cheryl Hayes?"
"Cheryl Hayes vacated the Glen Allen townhouse the day after the bankruptcy notices were filed," Sarah said. "The moment she realized Richard was broke and facing felony exposure, she blocked his number, packed her bags, and moved back to her parents’ house in Georgia. She didn't leave a forwarding address."
I looked at the certified divorce decree sitting on the table before me, bearing the heavy gold seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
CLAIRE BENNETT, Petitioner, vs. RICHARD COLE, Respondent. FINAL ORDER OF ABSOLUTE DIVORCE.
I ran my fingertips over the embossed paper.
Nine years of emotional labor. Nine years of swallowing insults, of subsidizing ungrateful in-laws, of making myself smaller so an insecure man could pretend to be tall.
It was all gone.
Wiped away like grease off a porcelain plate.
May you like
"Thank you, Sarah," I said, looking up at my attorney. "For everything."
"You did the hard part, Claire," Sarah replied, her eyes bright with professional respect. "Most people stay in those cages until they’re stripped down to the bone. You had the courage to put down the plate and walk away."
