Goodbye 6

 

Chapter 6 

“To make sure I don’t back out, I emailed it to you, but I also sent a copy to the court clerk I spoke with. Once the time is up, the court will automatically announce it to both parties. Even if I want to back out, it’ll be too late to with- draw the divorce agreement.” 

Tracie spoke in a calm, detached tone. 

She sounded distant, as though none of this affected her. 

Barney felt a deep ache in his heart. 

How hollow must Tracie feel to leave herself no room for regret? 

“Tracie, if you need to cry, just let it out,” Barney said gently. 

Tracie smiled faintly. “I don’t want to cry, really.” 

She didn’t want to dwell on the pain. She just wanted to move forward with her life. 

The assets she had saved up over the years were all for Wendi now. Tracie needed to earn money quickly and keep herself busy, without any time to stop and think. 

After saying goodbye to Barney, she returned home and immediately dove back into her study to finish her senior liv- ing facility project. 

While reviewing her work, she suddenly remembered that she had left something behind at Grover’s villa. 

To be specific, it was a handwritten note. 

Half a month ago, while she was putting Wendi to bed, an idea had suddenly come to her. She grabbed a piece of Wendi’s colored paper and jotted down her thoughts. Since she was in Wendi’s room at the time, she had slipped the note between the pages of Wendi’s fairy tale book. 

That note was important to her project. 

Realizing that tomorrow was Saturday, when Grover would be taking Wendi to the family’s old house for dinner, Tra- cie decided she would go to the villa the next morning to retrieve the note. 

The next morning, Tracie checked the time. Grover and Wendi should have already left the villa. She drove over. 

When she rang the doorbell, she expected it to be Agnes, the housekeeper who had often made things difficult for her. 

Instead, a stranger opened the door. 

The woman asked, “Can I help you?” 

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“Are you the new housekeeper?” Tracie asked in return. 

“I’ve worked for the Stanton family for twenty years, but I was recently transferred here from the old house. Are you a guest of Mr. Stanton?” the housekeeper asked politely but cautiously. 

A bitter smile tugged at Tracie’s lips. 

A housekeeper who had worked for twenty years at the old house didn’t recognize her as Mrs. Stanton. 

No wonder. 

Her marriage to Grover had always been just a piece of paper. They never had a wedding, and Grover had never pub- licly acknowledged her as Mrs. Stanton. 

“I’m… Wendi’s tutor. I left something in her room and came to get it,” Tracie lied. 

She didn’t expect the housekeeper to let her in, but if not, she would just wait for Grover to come back and get the note herself. 

To her surprise, the housekeeper let her in. “You can come in.” 

Tracie went straight to Wendi’s room and found it in complete disarray. The bookshelves, which she had previously organized, were now a mess. Trying to find her note among the books would be tricky. 

To avoid making the housekeeper uncomfortable by standing at the door and watching her, Tracie carried a stack of children’s books into the living room and began flipping through them, one by one. 

Just as she was getting absorbed in her search, the sound of the door opening echoed from the hallway. 

Moments later, Grover walked in, holding Wendi’s hand, with Wendi holding Juliana’s hand. The three of them were chatting and laughing, clearly at ease with each other, walking into the house like a happy, inseparable family. 

As she saw the three of them holding hands, looking like the perfect, happy family, Tracie’s face betrayed not a single 

emotion.