I never was. It’s just that Cynthia and I had plans. We had things we’d been working toward. What percentage? I asked. A pause. What? You said split. What percentage are you proposing? Another pause. Slightly longer. He had not expected me to engage with the arithmetic. 20%. He said, ‘That’s $18 million, Mom.
You could live anywhere you wanted, Derek.’ I said, ‘The ticket is mine. Not 80% mine, 100% mine. I bought it. It was purchased on my customer account at a pharmacy where I have shopped for 9 years. There is camera footage of me buying it. There is a timestamped transaction record in my name. There is a sworn statement from the owner of the pharmacy. I paused.
I’m not negotiating a percentage of something that belongs entirely to me. Silence. You’re making a mistake, he said. And the softness was gone now, replaced by the thing underneath it. You’re going to spend the next year in court, and the lawyers are going to take a fortune, and you’re going to be alone through all of it.