if we take away Elaine's feelings of guilt towards MC and her desire (sincere or not) to rebuild a healthy relationship with him (sentimental or not), I think she has very little left. she would become the parody of the sexually repressed milf....
if MC is very hard on her, she never doubts the reasons of his anger, she hopes he will one day forgive her. but in the same way even choosing the opposite options it is always MC who forgives her, the past is never erased, at the most the guilt is partly shifted towards her father, but Elaine never completely exonerates herself
but then heck there really is a path of guilt....
if it was all a misunderstanding, an overreaction of Mc, if we remove this premise, what is the meaning of the story we are living? why Elaine would have been so uncomfortable with the presence of Mc to have to kick him out of her house the day after the funeral of his father? why should she get involved with lawyers to make sure that both have something?
the past is not in question, what is in question is the truthfulness of their present relationship, which is deliberately kept doubtful, with more shadows than lights