Gretchen looked at the heading. The statement was for the joint account she had with Jax. These little evidences of separation would never get easier to stomach. “What’s next?”

“Your checking account and the savings account you have set up for Caleb. How is he, by the way? Still a spitfire?”

“And then some.” Looking through the paperwork, Gretchen was pleased to see their son had a good start to a college or house fund, and she had enough of a cushion to go back to work part-time at first. She noticed the printer was still going. “There’s more?”

“Your personal savings.” Joanne handed her the last stack of papers.

Her eyes widened the moment she saw the balance. “This is mine?”

Joanne nodded and smiled. “You’ve been working very hard to build it up.”

“Did I ever tell you what for?”

“No, but you always wore a smile and said you hoped it all worked out.”

“Wow,” she said while folding up the statements. “Thank you, Joanne. This will be a huge help.”

“I’m really happy you’re okay. We were worried when we hadn’t seen you around.”

Gretchen forced a smile, just a small tug at the corners of her mouth. “I’ll see you soon.” She waved to everyone as she left.

By the time she got home, Amanda was already there with Caleb. “Hey, sorry I’m late.”

“Late for what?” Amanda said. She placed a plate of dino chicken nuggets in front of Caleb, who was clearly too excited by his snack to care about the adults in the room. “We haven’t been home long, and judging by your tone on the phone, you had a busy day planned. I didn’t expect you home for hours.”

“I went looking for answers.” Gretchen dropped her purse on the table and took off her coat. “I needed to know what my life was like. This whole time I’ve been so focused on Jax and stopping all that bad stuff from happening that I never learned about me.” She knew she must’ve sounded crazy because Amanda’s eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline.

“Okay.” Amanda drew out the one word for too long.

“I have a hefty savings account I knew nothing about.”

“Yeah.”

She tilted her head. “You knew?”

“Of course I did. After Mom died, I felt guilty she didn’t—”

“I’m not talking about the money for Caleb.”

“Wait.” Amanda raised her hands and waved them from side to side. “You remember that?”

“Yes and no, but that’s not important.”

“You remembering anything is important.”

“It’s crazy to get into all of that right now.”

Amanda crossed her arms. “Try me.” Caleb started a gladiator-like battle between two nuggets.