Then I stopped.
Melissa had brought someone with her.
Standing beside her was a tall man with graying brown hair whom I hadn’t seen in nearly four years.
Jason Hale.
Tyler’s father.
Melissa’s ex-husband.
I opened the door but kept the security chain attached.
“Why are you here?”
Jason looked uneasy.
Melissa looked furious.
“You canceled Tyler’s tuition!”
“Yes.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I just did.”
Jason turned toward her.
“Wait.”
Melissa’s face shifted.
It was subtle, but I saw anger give way to fear.
Jason looked at me.
“What tuition?”
Silence.
He asked again.
“What tuition are you paying?”
I frowned.
“Tyler’s. Brighton Academy. Fourteen thousand a year.”
Jason became completely motionless.
Then he gave a small, stunned laugh.
“Rachel, I pay Tyler’s tuition.”
Melissa’s face went pale.
I looked between the two of them.
“What?”
“Every semester,” Jason explained. “It’s in our divorce agreement. Tuition, books, activity fees. I pay the school directly.”
“That’s not true,” Melissa snapped.
Jason took out his phone.
“Would you like me to show her the statements?”
“Jason, this is none of your business.”
“It became my business when you called me an hour ago demanding that I replace the money Rachel ‘took away.’”
My stomach dropped.
I removed the chain.
“Come inside.”
Melissa caught Jason by the arm.
“We’re leaving.”
He pulled free.
“No. We’re not.”
Ten minutes later, all three of us were sitting around the same table where Grant had asked me for a divorce.
Jason logged into Brighton Academy’s billing portal.
The records were right there.
Tuition paid in full.
Year after year.
By Jason.
I opened my own account and showed him the payments leaving my savings.
He frowned.
“That isn’t the school’s billing name.”
“What?”
