“You’re doing this yourself now?” he asked.
Amber heard the disbelief beneath the question.
“For now,” she said.
There was a pause.
Anthony seemed to expect more—an explanation, an accusation, maybe a plea.
Amber gave him none.
“You could make this a lot easier,” he said.
“How?”
Another pause.
“You know how.
We could talk.
We could fix this instead of dragging everything out.”
It was the same crossroads Amber had been staring at since the lawyer returned her files.
Return to Anthony and hope the relationship could be repaired, or continue down a path that had already cost her money, support, and legal representation.
Only now the choice sounded different when Anthony said it aloud.
“And the accounts?” Amber asked.
Anthony’s tone changed.
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
We don’t need to handle everything like enemies.”
Amber looked at the papers in front of her.
“Then restore my access.”
Silence.
“Amber—”
“If repairing the relationship and controlling the money are separate issues, restore my access.”
Anthony exhaled sharply.
“You’re trying to turn everything into evidence now.”
Amber almost answered.
Instead, she wrote down the date and time of the conversation.
“I’m trying to keep things clear,” she said.
That irritated him more than anger would have.
Anthony had been prepared for an emotional argument.
He knew how to answer accusations.
He knew how to dismiss panic.
Calm documentation gave him less to push against.
“Dave wouldn’t even help you,” Anthony said.
“Your lawyer already walked away.
At some point you have to be realistic.”
The words landed exactly where Anthony intended them to.
For several seconds, Amber felt the shame return.
Dave had refused.
Her lawyer had returned the case.
She was alone.
But she was no longer confused about why the situation felt so unbearable.
“I am being realistic,” she said.
Then she ended the conversation.
Anthony called back once.
Amber didn’t answer.
She returned to the files.
The hardest part of proceeding without a lawyer was not the paperwork.
It was uncertainty.
Amber constantly worried that she was overlooking something, misunderstanding something, or arriving too late to protect herself from another loss.
She made mistakes in organization and corrected them.
She reread instructions.
She carried more copies than she thought she needed.
She kept notes about every step because memory became unreliable whenever fear took over.
At night, she still considered calling Anthony.
