What you're asking about Zoe, that conversation is real and it matters and I am willing to have it. She deserves to have her mother in her life. And if you're serious about being consistent, then we can figure out what that looks like. A small sound on the line. Relief maybe, but the other part he said, the part about you being wrong about me.
I believe you and I appreciate that it wasn't easy to say, but I need you to understand something. I didn't need the press conference for you to be right about me. I was the same man filing those memos when there were no cameras. I was the same man raising Zoey when nobody was watching. The cameras didn't make me worth anything.
They just made it visible. He paused. So when you're thinking about what you want, make sure you're thinking about the man who was already there, not the one on the news. Silence. Long actual silence.
Then Vanessa said very quietly, "I know." And something in those two words told him she actually did. "Can I would it be all right if I came to min to see Zoe? I don't want to do this over the phone. Give me a couple of weeks." He said, "Things are moving fast right now. Give me two weeks and then we'll set something up." "Okay," she said.
"Okay, thank you, Marcus." He hung up and sat there for a moment. He didn't feel what he'd expected to feel. He'd expected some residue of the old anger or the old grief or the old wanting the complicated machinery of a marriage that hadn't worked. But what he actually felt was something quieter than any of that. Something that felt approximately like being done.
Not bitterly done, just finished. The way you're finished with a flight when you've landed and shut down the engines. The thing had happened. It was over and here was the ground under his feet. He poured more coffee.
He called Patricia. Callaway's attorneys called again this morning. She said before he could speak. The settlement number has increased significantly. How significantly?
She told him. He set his coffee mug down carefully. That's yes, she said. He was quiet for a moment. And they still want silence, comprehensive non-disclosure, full retraction of any public statement, cooperation with their internal narrative.
She paused. My recommendation remains unchanged. No, he said immediately. Good, she said. That's what I told them.
A pause. Earl Hutchkins came in this morning early. I think he'd been in his car since 6:00 a. M. Marcus, what he's given us is significant.