Chapter 5: Jason’s Second Move
Jason’s next message arrived with a PDF attached. He had forwarded the viral photograph to the attorney who still handled residual decree issues, along with a short note suggesting that my “public presentation of a new household” raised questions about the necessity of the current support level. The language was careful enough to avoid an immediate accusation of cohabitation; it was also clear enough to signal that he intended to treat the image as the opening exhibit in a campaign to reduce or eliminate what he paid. I forwarded the entire exchange to the legal-aid attorney who had helped finalize the divorce, received a same-day reply advising me to document every contact and to avoid any direct engagement that could be screenshot and reframed, and then sat on the edge of the guest bed while Clara napped. The townhouse locks he had changed, the emptied account, and the water-view photographs of his new life had not been enough. He required the stranger’s shoulder as additional proof that I was no longer entitled to the modest number the court had set.
