Texas Two Stepping

[Nettles]

My L advised me the next day that the PO didn't require me to move out of the house until 3/15. We had planned a trip IL's FL home over spring break. W and kids were going, so I could stay at the house during this time.

I still didn't know where they were, so I asked my L to tell W's L that I would leave the house and W and kids could stay there until they left, and I'd move back for the week.

And so it was. My L and I met with W's L while W was in FL. Our state does collaborative Ds, so we started the process. As part of it, W had to fire the other L that had done the PO, and W had to agree that she would not file any court actions while we were in collaborative process. My L found out that W's other L had 'torn down' the court date for the PO and it would just expire on 3/24.

Even before the PO, I had stopped texting and calling W after the first 24 hours. I knew she was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. The PO just reinforced this.

I started to think about where I'd live. I started organize all the financial data we'd need in the collaborative process. I got a budget from W's L and made suggestions and updates to it so W could have an accurate picture of what it would look like if she kept the house.

I got a personal cell phone because I only had a work cell. I knew I'd be texting a lot more with the kids, and I was hoping to in a polite manner with W and couldn't do all that on my work cell.

While they were in FL, I texted my two oldest to let them know I had a new cell because my work wouldn't want me texting too much. The next morning, 3/14 at 5:15 AM, I received a text from W. This was first communication with W since the morning of 2/28 when they left for school.