They divided assets fairly.
They signed a parenting plan that gave Noah structure instead of using him as a rope in a private war.
After the judge signed the order, Ethan waited for Madison in the courthouse parking lot.
No attorneys.
No mediator.
Just the two of them and Noah on Madison’s hip, trying to chew the strap of her purse.
“Can I ask you something?” Ethan said.
Madison shifted Noah higher.
“You can ask.”
“That day I called.”
She knew which day.
“When you said you were doing what I told you, what did you mean?”
Madison looked at the man she had once begged to choose her.
She did not feel the old ache anymore.
Only a clean sadness.
“You told me I was on my own,” she said.
Ethan swallowed.
“So I stopped waiting for you.”
