“Sign the refinancing papers on the kitchen counter before the notary arrives tomorrow,” he added, his hand on his suitcase handle.
“I am not signing away our home,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.
He paused at the door, looking back at me with a cold, level stare. “It is not your apartment anymore.”
The click of the suitcase locks echoed in the empty hallway.
I stayed on the bottom step of the stairs until the radiator in the hall clinked twice and fell cold. The yellow cab outside took him toward JFK, leaving the brownstone entirely silent.
By nine thirty the next morning, the winter sun was a flat white square on the marble floor of the Chase Bank branch on Court Street. The air inside smelled of wet umbrellas and cheap floor wax.
I held a crumpled prescription for prenatal vitamins in my right hand, my thumb repeatedly sliding over the smooth silver band on my right ring finger. The pharmacist across the street had already turned me away, his expression neutral as he handed back the empty plastic vial. The total was forty-eight dollars, and my card had been declined twice.
The teller, a young woman named Brenda with small gold hoops in her ears, did not look up immediately. She was counting twenty-dollar bills with a rubber fingertip, her movements rhythmic and slow.
“Just a withdrawal from the joint savings, please,” I said, sliding my debit card across the black counter.
Brenda swiped the card, her eyes scanning the monitor before she frowned. She tapped three keys in quick succession, the clicking loud in the quiet lobby.
“The joint savings is restricted, Mrs. Calloway,” she said, lowering her voice.
“There must be an administrative error,” I said, leaning closer to the glass barrier. “My husband’s company transfers the monthly dividend there on the first of every month.”
She squinted at the screen, then looked at me with a soft, cautious pity that made my skin hot.
“The corporate legal department for Calloway Development filed a freeze order at eight o’clock this morning,” she said.
“But my personal allowance is tied to that account,” I said. “I have medical expenses.”
Brenda tapped the screen again, her face tightening as she read the balance details.
