CH 4 --
Changes
John sat there completely shocked and read the divorce petition. He took a large pull on his beer and contemplated what to do. He had the key to his grandfather's house on his key ring and decided that that was where he head.
He couldn't understand what happened to make Jillian file for divorce. Earlier in the month he thought that she had been cheating on him because of her activities and attitude. Billy helped him to find out information by giving him access to sophisticated electronic devices and showed John how to use them. John was not computer illiterate, but wasn't as savvy as some people. Billy gave him small IP cameras with sound as well as video. These could be reflected by a repeating and recording device with hours of recording time, and had a good range for downloading. Billy and John placed them in the bedroom, the kitchen and the living room. They were completely unnoticeable unless you knew where they were.
The other thing John did was to come home from his night shift, sleep for three hours and go out to watch Jillian at lunch time. As far as this was concerned, he was disappointed because the only person she ever met for lunch was Mac. He would then return home and catch more sleep before he went back out on shift.
Mac was a bit standoffish when he would approach her as well. This should have raised red flags, but Mac was too good a friend for John to be suspicious. John would often talk to Chip and Ellie, but get no relief because neither of them knew what to do. JJ always rode his bicycle to school so John saw a lot of him after school when he would stop at his great-grandfather's house. This caused a little bit of a riff between JJ and Jill, because she thought he was turning against her. Although he still loved his mother, JJ was his father's son. He didn't know what caused the problem, but truly thought it was his mother's fault.
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When John had time and looked at the divorce papers again, he realized that Jill was going for his throat. She was asking for 70% of their assets, the house, and a significant amount of child support for JJ. She was also asking for alimony; which he knew was never going to happen. He would call her often and she would just hang up on him. JJ got his grandfather, George, John's dad, to pick him up and take John's clothes over to where he was staying. John sat down with his father one night for heart-to-heart.
"What's the trouble son?" George asked.
"Dad I have no idea, this is on Jillian. However, I think she may be having an affair. I just can't get the proof, but I haven't checked the cameras Billy and I installed in the house."
"Son, I hate to say this, but I always had a nagging feeling that you were getting in over your head with Jill. She was just used to an extravagant lifestyle and getting her own way. I didn't think you were her type of husband."
"Why didn't you ever say anything if you felt that way?"
"Because you're my son, John, and I raised you to have good sense. You're a man and you make your own decisions and live with the consequences. I couldn't change your mind anyway."
"Dad, you know I've always listened to your advice. Grandpa Enis warned me about Jill, but I didn't take it to heart because I really loved her. If you had spoken up I might've thought twice about it. Mind you, I'm not blaming you, but I made this decision and I'm going to have to do something about it; for JJ's sake if nothing else. I'm probably going to give her what she wants."
George reached across the table and slapped John across the face. "No you will not. You're going to fight this thing and show JJ that he can be proud of his father. I didn't teach you to knuckle under and crawl away."
John picked up the landline phone and dialed a number saying, "Jim Hayes please. Jim, I'm sorry to bother you at home, but my son has an issue and need some assistance. Okay, I'll send them to your office tomorrow at 3 o'clock. Thanks buddy, talk to you later."
"You're going to see Jim Hayes tomorrow at 3 o'clock at the Bennett building downtown. He'll need to see all the papers, so take them with you. I'm sorry I hit you son, but I'm not going to have you just lay down for her."
The next day, John went to the law offices of Hayes, Reacher and Smith. Jim Hayes was the senior partner of a six person law firm that did business for Simmons and the other businesses around town. He did very little Family Law, but knew someone he that did. Jim introduced himself to John telling him that he was a good friend of George's. After the pleasantries, Jim walked John down a hallway to an office at the end of the hall and Jim knocked and opened the door. Jim introduced him to Amanda Blonder, a very sexy blonde that had a lot of the same features as Jillian. She wore reading glasses that took nothing away from her good looks.
She took the papers John was served with and started reading them over. She sat there reading the paperwork and a few times let out small sighs and a few "hmmms" while John basically twiddled his thumbs.
All the sudden she took off her glasses, put them down on her desk and rather tersely said, "Well the first thing that needs taken care of, is this bullshit restraining order. Would your son testify on your behalf?"
"I've never spoken to him about this. I'm sure he would; although I don't really want to drag him into this."
"Like it or not, John, your son is already involved in this. He is going to be a casualty of this divorce unless his mother decides to wise up. Now tell me about the events leading up to this."
John recounted everything that happened over the last six months leading up to him being served.
"John I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but have you been stepping out on your wife?"
"No, absolutely not. I work a lot of side jobs building furniture and wouldn't have time, even if I wanted to."
"Believe me John, men can always find time if they want to."
She picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said, "Margie, Amanda. Can you get me in front of Judge Frazier for a show cause hearing? As soon as possible. Okay, thank you. Talk to you later, bye"
"Okay, I'll have my secretary contact your wife's attorney and let him know we've got a date in court for a show cause hearing tomorrow at 9 AM. That's not a problem, is it? I'll notify your wife's attorney as soon as we finish here."
"No I can handle it; I can always sleep afterwards."
"This crap about 70% of assets is bullshit also," she said this is a no-fault state and she will play hell getting anything over 50% of the marital assets. Unless, of course, she has some evidence that I'm unaware of. You had better be completely candid with me about everything.
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That night, John met with George again and they sat the kitchen table drinking coffee.
"My lawyer is a hot little blonde named Amanda Blonder. She seems like a ball of fire."
"She should be. She's Jim Hayes' daughter and went through a pretty nasty divorce after her husband cheated on her. Jim tells me that she doesn't like cheating women any better than she does men and that she feels that the legal profession is tilted in favor of the women; and that's not true equal justice.
"She's got a mouth on her and isn't afraid to throw the cuss words around," said John as he drank his coffee.
"Anyway, son, I'm sure she's going to do a good job for you."
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The next day when they showed up for court, Jillian and her attorney were obviously miffed. Jillian looked at John and said, "You did this on purpose to make me lose time from work, didn't you?"
Amanda just smiled at John before looking at Jill and her attorney."I believe that you started the ball rolling on this little situation, Mrs. Trainor, not John, and he has the right to defend against this idiotic restraining order. I'll have you know that this is the earliest time and date that we could get this."
The judge pounded the gavel called the hearing to order.
Jill's lawyer started by saying that John had threatened his wife after being served with the papers and that she would like to see the restraining order continued.
The judge asked Ms. Blonder for her reply and she said, "Your Honor, Mr. Trainor has never made any threats towards his wife at any time and we will be calling his son to testify to that effect. We respectfully asked the court to require Mrs. Trainor to provide evidence that Mr. Trainor ever threatened her or we would like to have this restraining order quashed."
The judge asked Jill's attorney to produce such evidence and he couldn't. At this the judge became somewhat incensed and said, "Mr. Rawson your client obviously used this is some cheap attempt to punish her husband and waste this court's time. I'll not stand for this kind of tomfoolery and I am finding for Mr. Trainor. The restraining order is hereby lifted. Mrs. Trainor will allow full access to Mr. Trainor to his personal items and anything else he feels he might need from the residence.