The teller picked up his desk phone.

“I need to call our verification department,” he said. “Please give me just one moment.”

I stood there, my fingers gripping the edge of the marble counter.

The air in the bank lobby suddenly felt stiflingly hot.

He spoke quietly into the receiver, his eyes shifting to me and then back to the monitor.

He hung up the phone and looked at me with a mixture of confusion and pity.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. King,” he said.

He did not call me Ava. He used the name I was trying so hard to discard.

“The account has been placed on an administrative hold,” he said. “I cannot authorize any withdrawals.”

“On whose authority?” I asked, my voice rising slightly.

“The primary account holder,” he said. “Mr. King’s office filed an emergency motion this morning regarding shared marital assets.”

I took my card back, my hands trembling as I stuffed it into my pocket.

I walked out into the rain, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

I needed to get back to my rented apartment.