*Author's note: This story has a political element to it, but it's not about politics. Readers tend to get rather edgy anytime I reference either politics or religion. (I've been told to both 'stop preaching' and 'go to hell you fucking atheist' from readers of the same story!) Obviously, I'm going to infuse my personal views into my characters as it would be impossible to do a credible job writing about things I don't believe in. With that in mind, this is a love story where the political element brings the main characters together, not a forum to 'preach' my political point of view even if it appears that way.
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"Okay. Let's start off with the most expensive and controversial asset. What about the house?" his attorney asked hers.
The husband answered for himself. "She can keep it."
"No, you don't have to do that, Michael. We can sell it and divide the profits," she insisted.
"No. This was all my fault, Claire. I threw away our marriage on a whim. So please, keep the house."
Their attorneys ticked off every major item they jointly owned as the divorcing couple agreed who would get what. Neither attorney had ever handled a divorce that went this smoothly.
He was willing to let her have almost everything even though he was walking away with nearly a half million in cash and other assets. In turn, she'd give up all future interest in his company that was still earning them both a ton of money.
"He can have two of the three cars," she said. "I just need one to get around in. I'd like to keep the Buick Regal if that's okay." It was a brand new 2016 model with less than 3,000 miles on it.
"Of course it is, honey," he said before realizing he couldn't call her that anymore. He looked over at her and said, "Sorry. Old habits."
She tried to smile but couldn't. The affair had killed her. She'd never cheated. Hell, she'd never even looked. And then one day out of nowhere he told her he'd been screwing his cute, young executive assistant for months. She was dumbfounded having never so much as suspected anything. She'd been devastated and knew from day one she'd never be able to forgive him for having flushed twelve years of marriage down the toilet in an instant. Even so, she refused to let bitterness rule her life, and she mostly managed to remain cordial but formal when dealing with him.
"I want something else, though," she told him.
"Name it," he replied.
"I want you to pay for me to go back to school and finish my bachelor's. I dropped out of college my senior year when I married you and I want to get my degree. It's just two semesters, Michael."
"Done," he said. "What else?"
"That's it," she told him.
Claire was to receive alimony payments plus tuition, book, and fees for one year to give her time to finish her education and find a job. He would pay the property taxes and all maintenance on the home for the same period of time, after which she would be totally responsible for it herself meaning she could live there, sell it, or rent it out as she chose.
The 'big revelation' had come just six months ago and she'd lived alone in that great big house by herself ever since as she demanded he leave that very night. He assured her he'd stopped seeing the younger woman several weeks prior and had since apologized a hundred times begging her to take him back, but Claire wanted nothing more to do with him. She couldn't even stand to look at him anymore as the only thing she could see was him...with her.
She'd initially cried off and on for weeks, but all that was behind her now. She did occasionally struggle with bitterness, but she was winning that battle, too. Claire still didn't know exactly how to move on, but she knew she had to. Going back to school seemed to be the most logical place to start as it would be familiar to her and somewhere she could fit into anonymously without the pity of her friends; friends who rarely called anymore and who came by even less often. Claire had learned very quickly that friends who were married were often friends of her and Michael rather than true friends of her own. The only exceptions had been her mother, her sister and best friend Carol, and her other friend from high school who lived out of state, Janet Sherman.
Claire had always been an excellent student, but it had been more than 12 years since she'd been in a formal classroom. Even so, she couldn't wait to throw herself into her studies while letting the emotional wounds heal and maybe one day she'd be ready to date again. Classes were starting in two weeks and she'd already re-enrolled banking on Michael's guilt to pay for it. It wasn't as though she was destitute. Half of everything they owned was hers. It was just that by keeping the house and the Buick, she was 'cash poor' and the alimony payments would only just cover her necessary expenses. If she wanted any money to spend, she would have to get a part-time job and that was just fine with her.
And then there was dating. She smiled a wry smile when she thought about it. She'd tried going out with an old friend one time a couple of weeks ago, but she hadn't been ready. In spite of having done nothing wrong, she'd felt like she was somehow being unfaithful to her cheating husband the entire time they were out together. And as much as she'd always liked this guy, he did nothing for her romantically. Ironically, once he learned that's all he meant to her, the friendship they'd previously had died on her front porch. He'd tried to kiss her goodnight, but she'd turned away and given him a friendly hug instead. He got the message and had never called her back. In fact they hadn't even spoken since.
That was just as well as the last thing Claire felt like she needed was to be romantically involved with someone at this point in her life. She needed time to clear her head—and her heart—so returning to the University of Washington to finish up her degree in political science felt like the perfect place to start. She'd not only loved going to college but her chosen major, as well. Claire never thought of herself as someone who would ever run for office or even work in the government, but she loved the study of politics and the way political power was wielded in America and around the world.
She was raised in the home of liberal Democrats in a suburb just outside Seattle, but unlike most of her peers, she found herself not only not embracing liberal politics in college, but rejecting large portions of liberal ideology altogether. That said, she could never be a far-right conservative either, and ended up finding a home as more of a Libertarian than anything else.
Claire neither loved nor hated government, per se, she just wanted it to leave her alone and do a few things really well—like national defense and creating an environment where people could succeed if they worked hard and played by the rules. She thought governments at all levels should also live within their means and heartily rejected the notion that governments weren't like families. She laughed when she thought about that. "Right! Families don't have printing presses. THAT'S what makes them different."
That said, she believed in a strong social safety net for those physically or mentally unable to work but not some cradle-to-grave security cocoon for anyone and everyone to include those unwilling to work. She also had no desire to support the kinds of social policies she found on the evangelical Right and considered to be repressive and regressive. She didn't care what people did in the privacy of their bedrooms or their homes as long as they didn't harm anyone else. So she was neither far Left nor far Right but considered herself to live in a kind of political 'Goldilocks zone' and patiently suffered the slings and arrows from family and friends at either end of the two extremes.
After meeting with an adviser who welcomed back to academia, Claire knew exactly how many credits she'd need to graduate and which courses she had to take as well as what she could take as electives. Actually, she only had two courses which weren't mandatory and one of them intrigued her. It's title was "POL S 469: Law and Rights in Authoritarian Regimes" and of all the classes she was taking that semester, this one seemed the most interesting—and potentially the most controversial.
She'd picked up her student ID that morning and felt a twinge of sadness when she saw her photo on it. Everyone she knew told her she still looked great at 34. Well, she'd be 35 in two months, but still.... She tried not to be overly critical as she looked at it again. She'd worn her very dark-brown hair short—above her ears—for the last ten years and she had to admit it really worked for her considering the shape of her face. Long hair made her longer-looking face just look, well...longer, and short hair did just the opposite. It was perfect for her and even now she loved the way it looked on her.
She also still had very smooth skin and Claire was often complimented on her gorgeous smile and beautiful blue eyes. She'd gone back to the gym a month after the 'big revelation' even though her body still looked great. She needed the distraction and to her surprise, she found she loved the way the workouts made her feel—after they were done. It also didn't hurt that the light weights she used had nicely toned up what was already otherwise still pretty darned tight. All in all, she was finally starting to get a small amount of self-confidence back and that felt best of all.
The day after the meeting with the attorneys, Claire went back to the UW book store to pick up her required materials for the first semester's classes. Two things shocked her. The first was the price of books. It was outrageous! She was paying well over twice what she'd paid just over a decade ago and if that wasn't bad enough, she couldn't believe how young everyone else looked. Even the seniors buying some of the same books she was looked like children to her. "If I get even one 'mom' comment, I'll die!" she thought to herself as she reached for one of the last two copies of a book for her Authoritarian Regimes class.
A girl with purple hair and a nose ring stepped in front of her and grabbed one of them not even bothering to say 'excuse me.' Claire held her tongue then reached for the last one. Just as she picked it up she heard a voice behind her say, "I know you're not gonna take the last copy." She turned around and saw a younger man—gee, what a surprise—smiling at her with a kind of lop-sided grin. "Is it safe to assume you're taking Authoritarian Regimes this semester?" he asked.
"I was planning to," she said as she stood there looking at him.
He just stood there looking back at her, his hands on his hips and his head cocked slightly to the side. "What?" she said his stare making her feel uncomfortable.
"I can't believe you'd do that to me, that's all," he said finally smiling at her.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Now I feel bad."
"Just not bad enough to let me have it though, right?" he teased her.
"Well, if I give it to you, then what would I do?"
