D18 rang me at work in tears. XH had appeared at our door to announce that he was moving to another State - 9 hours away by car.
He has no family and no friends there, and the living is much more expensive than here. But apparently he is having trouble making money and needs to move to a bigger city with "more opportunity".
He also said it was because it was "too awkward" living so close to the kids but not being able to see them. He left after about 3 mins. She has her end of year exams starting tomorrow.
As I arrived home with S16 after school, I heard the sound of what I thought was our previous car zooming up the road.
Sure enough, XH walked in right behind us. I left him to talk to S16 and went to sit with D18 and her boyfriend in the back room. After about 5 mins, during which time he apparently asked about the health of my 90-year-old parents for the first time in 3 years, S16 came out to say that I was being summoned.
XH started up right away: "Do you think it's right to reward inappropriate behaviour?"
Say whaaat?
He repeated, trying to set me up to support his previous claim to S16 that he'd stopped paying child support because S16 had been rude to him.
Then he started to tell me what I "needed" to do in relation to the children.
He went on about how it was all my fault that they wanted nothing to do with him. Ho hum.
It was sort of pathetic, sort of funny, and a lot infuriating.
I chose to be infuriated when he joked that the kids had to "eat cardboard and wear rice in their shoes" - a play on my report that we couldn't afford meat and had no money to replace their school shoes due to his refusal to pay child support.
I guess I just saw red. There he was with a brand new Rolex on his arm, another new Ralph Lauren shirt on his back and a teenagers' haircut (we call it a 'shorty long-top').
How dare you stand there and laugh at us - with your face all puffy and bloated - and you're 2 stone overweight with all the drinking and eating you''re doing.
He left.
Hallelulja, we'll be free of him. No more having to worry about him turning up on the doorstep. No more having to avoid our local supermarket and main street. No more worries about him and OW turning up at school events.
My, was he pissed off. Wonder what OW is going to do with her substantial business in this State. She'll have to start up all over again. The things we do for schmoopie....
