Regrets Of What Was Lost Chapter 03
At nine the next morning, I took the day off and arrived at the county courthouse right on time.
Savannah didn’t come.
At this stage, the slightest hiccup could make Zinnia change her mind.
Until I had the final judgment in hand, I didn’t want anything to go wrong.
But the moment I reached the entrance, I saw Zinnia standing on the steps, holding Chloe’s hand.
My chest tightened.
Was she really going to use our daughter to guilt me out of this?
Chloe was five. She didn’t need to be dragged into the middle of this.
I walked over and lowered my voice.
“Why did you bring her?”
Zinnia glanced at me and pushed open the glass door.
“Since you already have the day off, we might as well get it all done. We can transfer the condo directly into Chloe’s name.”
I stopped short.
But I quickly decided that was fine.
If we’d already agreed to give it to her, putting it directly in our daughter’s name would save us a step later.
She hadn’t changed a single word in the agreement.
The only revision was child support, which she’d raised from three thousand a month to five thousand.
I signed without hesitating.
Zinnia would do anything for Chloe. The extra two thousand would just go toward our daughter anyway.
To me, that amount was nothing.
After we submitted the paperwork, the clerk handed us a receipt.
“There’s no statutory waiting period in Illinois, but it still takes some time to process everything and issue the final judgment. Here’s your case number.”
I was already getting impatient.
“This is an uncontested divorce. Property division and custody are all spelled out. What exactly are we waiting for?”
The clerk looked at the computer without raising his head.
“Sorry, sir. That’s standard procedure.”
That shut me up.
After we left the courthouse, we went to the Recorder of Deeds office.
The process was even more complicated than I’d expected, but at least we got it done.
I called a Redfin agent and told him to get a photographer in as soon as possible and put the house on the market.
After the call, I leaned against my BMW, lit a cigarette, and watched Zinnia walk away, holding Chloe’s hand, until they disappeared down the street.
A knot tightened in my chest. I couldn’t have said why.
I took a drag from my cigarette and slowly exhaled.
It didn’t help.
Then my phone rang.
It was Savannah.
The moment I answered, her cheerful voice came through.
“Sweetheart, I ordered sushi for lunch to celebrate you being almost single.”
I closed my eyes.
And just like that, her voice smoothed over whatever was bothering me.
She was right. What was I so upset about?
I was the one who wanted the divorce, and Savannah was the one I had chosen.
The fact that Zinnia was making this easy should have been a relief.
Maybe I just wasn’t used to it yet.
It’s strange. You can know you don’t want something anymore, but when it’s actually gone from your life, the absence feels… off.
Savannah was still on the other end of the line, urging me on.
“Are you coming or not?”
“I’m on my way.”
I stubbed out the cigarette, started the car, and pulled into traffic.