I’d taken their word that Megan signed the agreement, took her cash payout, and cut every tie with me.

I slid my thumbnail under the red tape and tore the heavy paper open along the seam.

The thick parchment pages slid out onto the desk under the yellow lamplight.

They felt stiff in my thumbs, cold and dry after three years shut away in the dark drawer.

I spread the wrinkled pages of the divorce decree over my mahogany desk under the harsh lamp.

Page two was stuck to page three.