Page 3 of Forget That Guy
But he kept beating it over and over again. All of our theories were that Cantrell couldn’t leave because of his girl, Georgina.
Georgie was a great girl. Smart and funny. Always willing to lend a hand.
But she was worn out and struggling.
She was in college now, ready to graduate in the fall.
I was super proud of her, getting through everything so quickly on her own with almost zero help.
“Dad?”
I looked over at the oldest of my girls. The one that was most like me.
“Hey, Joe.”
She climbed up onto the wooden fence that I was currently leaning on, then sat her butt on the rail before saying, “I think you shouldn’t let her back out of it this time.”
I blinked, surprised to hear that from her.
She loved her mom.
“What?” I asked.
“Mom asking for a divorce,” she said softly. “We all know that she’s really unhappy. And with me starting to drive next week, I can start taking everyone to school in the morning. I can also runover and pick Cat up from the park where she’s practicing. Mom can pick up DeeDee since she’ll be in town. And then when I’m done getting Cat, I can grab DeeDee and we can come home.”
“You wouldn’t want to live with your mom?” I asked.
“No.” She scanned her eyes over the horizon. “This place is my happy place. I don’t want to live anywhere but here. I’m going to put my house right there.”
She pointed to a spot on the hill that I’d once wanted our house on.
It’d been a possibility, but this place had been vacant, and there was no reason to leave such a big house empty when it’d work perfectly fine.
“Are you now?”
She nodded. “We’re going to have a family compound going on. When I have kids, they’ll just cross that pasture right there to come hang out with you.”
I snorted out a laugh. “You just have it all planned, don’t you?”
“Don’t worry,” she teased. “I’ll marry someone that’ll help you with the ranch.”
“Gee, thanks.” I wrapped one arm around her waist. “I’m not stopping her this time, Joe.”
She wrapped her arm around my neck and squeezed. “I think it’s time.”
Six days later, Juliana moved out of the house and into an apartment in the city.
She filed for divorce within a month.
Six months after she moved out, our divorce was finalized.
Now, she had to work.
Since I had full custody of the girls, she had to send me child support—though I didn’t make her most of the time.
And, even worse, she was forced to work so much to support herself that she barely had any time off.
Joe told me that she hated it.
