day's schedule and asked whether I had eaten breakfast. I said yes, which was a lie, and he set a breakfast sandwich beside my coffee without commenting on it. Work did not erase what had happened, but it gave me somewhere to put my attention in pieces small enough to manage.
Peter met me after lunch with a folder that was thicker than I had expected. He explained the distinction between separating our lives, resolving property and support matters, and eventually obtaining an absolute divorce under North Carolina law. We could document that Erica had moved out and intended a separation now, and we could begin appropriate legal steps concerning assets, obligations, and temporary arrangements. The final legal end of the marriage required a continuous period of living apart, which meant the process would not conclude as quickly as my feelings wanted it to. I appreciated him telling me the truth before I started making plans around an imaginary deadline.
We reviewed the supplementary American Express card and the business fuel account. Peter wanted it documented exactly whose account each card was connected to, what expenses the cards were authorized for, and which balances remained legitimate obligations. The business accounts were not an open line of financial support for someone's new household, and keeping an unauthorized user on them created problems for the company and its other owners. He recommended written notice, a reasonable method of returning company property, and a separate examination of whether temporary personal support or marital financial arrangements were appropriate.
"I am not going to leave her without a way to buy groceries," I said. Peter looked at me for a moment and answered, "Good. Then we make sure the record shows you acted reasonably, not vindictively. But there is a difference between meeting a lawful responsibility and funding a luxury dinner with the man she left to live with." I told him that distinction had become important to me with surprising speed. He smiled without much amusement and said it generally did.
Over the next two days, Sam removed Erica's authority to use Harborline fuel accounts and arranged for the business SUV to be returned. The request went through Peter and provided practical options for dropping off the vehicle without requiring Erica to meet me. She returned the Tahoe to our storage lot before closing on Wednesday, leaving the keys with a service attendant and no note. She still had her own bank account, her own consulting income, and access to the funds that had properly been set aside for her personal use. Nothing was secretly withdrawn from a joint account, and the household obligations were being handled through counsel.
I changed passwords on personal accounts that belonged to me and had the office update its security permissions, including the warehouse gate code. The house locks were handled only after Peter arranged temporary access rules for collecting belongings and explained what I could and could not properly do with a home that remained subject to marital claims. I did change the streaming passwords. There are limits to what a man can endure, and I was not paying for commercial-free television at Damon's condo while his guest room became my problem.