The Other Woman Brought A Lease For Their June Departure

I let Tessa stand in the hall while I called Mae.

"She says she has an apartment document," I said.

"You can listen. Don't promise her anything. Ask if she'll give me a copy."

I put the phone away and opened the sitting room door.

"My aunt is staying here with us," I told Tessa.

"That's fine."

She sat on the edge of a chair. She wore a raincoat with one cuff turned inside out.

"He said you separated last fall," she began.

"We were sharing a bed until this month."

She stared at her envelope.

I let her.

"He said you were living separate lives," she said at last. "He said the turbine was a business he had bought from you."

"For one dollar?"

Her head came up.

"He told me $43,200. He said you were paid in full."

She pulled out a booking agreement for a furnished apartment near Concord, New Hampshire. It named Caleb Frost and Tessa Vane as the intended residents. Their move was set for June first.

An $8,000 payment covered a deposit and advance rent. A separate letter said the full amount remained in the leasing office's holding account until the cancellation deadline in May.

"Did you pay any of this?" I asked.

"No. He said he had it handled."

I read the names twice.

While I had been asking for boots, he had been choosing a second home.

"Why did you come?"

"He called yesterday. He said you were trying to make the utility pay you twice. He wanted me to move the deposit refund into my account if the office sent it back."

"Did you?"

"No. I asked him to show me the sale. He got angry."

She took out her phone. There were messages about June, the apartment, and how much equity the payment on his truck would leave him.

One message said, Once the money is clear, I won't need her for anything.

My aunt made a quiet sound behind me.

I read the message once. Then I asked Tessa to send the whole conversation to Mae, with the dates showing.

"She'll tell you how to preserve it," I said.

"Are you going to sue me?"

"Did you know he took my money?"

"No."

"Then tell the truth and keep the records. That's what I'm asking you to do."

I did not offer her comfort. She did not ask for it.

Before she left, she called the leasing office in front of us. She asked that no refund be redirected without written instructions from the lawyers handling the dispute.

Then she told Caleb, by text, that she would not move in with him.

I heard his call come through before she reached the door. She turned the phone face down and kept walking.

On Monday, Mae received the records from the leasing office. They matched Tessa's copy. Caleb had used lease revenue for a move I was never meant to make.

The $7,600 truck payment matched, too. He had reduced his personal loan so he could leave with more value in the vehicle.

There had been no household lender waiting for $28,600.

There had been a husband saving for an exit while charging me for needing lunch.

I went to the mill because the intake screen needed clearing. Wet leaves had packed against the bars. I worked them loose with the rake and watched water spread evenly through the opening.

My phone rang while I was hanging the rake up.

"Reimbursement is approved," Anika said.

I leaned against the wall.

"All of it?"

"The nine missed payments. $43,200. April's $4,800 will be separate. We've verified your account using the number from your original lease."

She sent the approval letter. It said the cooperative would pursue its own recovery from Caleb. I would not be paid again from any money it recovered.

I would receive what the lease required, once.

That evening, the bank showed the reimbursement as pending.

I looked at the screen for a long time.

My aunt sat across the table, peeling the paper from a tin of tea.

"Do you need to move it again?" she asked.

"No. It's already where I told them to put it."

I checked the account number against my copy anyway. Then I saved the letter and printed the deposit record for Mae.

I had a wage coming on Friday, boots that kept water out, and enough money to hire help without asking Caleb what it cost. I could feel each of those facts settle into place.

Caleb had sent a message, too.

You're letting them destroy my business. I'll take the machine if I have to.

I forwarded it to Mae.

At nine the next morning, her reply arrived with an attachment.

Caleb had filed a motion in the divorce case claiming that Hearth Ledger owned my turbine.