The first formal discovery responses arrived in uneven batches.
One folder held tax returns.
Another held a partial list of accounts.
Several promised records were missing.
Leah sent a letter identifying the gaps and asked for complete answers.
It was an ordinary step in litigation.
It also meant more legal bills.
I began reviewing each invoice carefully.
I asked Leah to explain expenses I didn't understand.
She did.
We agreed to avoid unnecessary motions when a focused request might solve a problem.
Priya meanwhile prepared a preliminary report.
Her main concern was not that every transfer was improper.
It was that Scott's submitted statement did not reconcile with the records now available.
Some funds had moved from our joint checking account into his company.
The company had paid Ridgeway for documented services.
Other payments had inadequate backup.
And a separate line of revenue appeared in a business account not included in the first list of records.
Priya asked for more evidence before assigning a final value.
At a meeting, she drew lines between several accounts on a whiteboard.
I watched the marker move from one box to another.
“Can he say the business is worthless?” I asked.
“He can argue his position,” she said. “But any credible valuation needs to account for earnings, liabilities, and the actual business records.”
Leah added, “And the court can consider evidence from both sides.”
I appreciated that neither woman told me I had already won.
Scott had once told me that anyone who questioned him was disloyal.
These professionals asked more questions than anyone I knew.
They were trying to prevent mistakes.
Later that month Scott submitted a revised financial disclosure.
It identified 4821 as a company account.
It also included a previously unlisted savings account used for estimated tax payments.
He said the omission was an oversight.
Leah did not accept or reject that explanation immediately.
She asked for statements and supporting records.
I thought about how effortlessly Scott had called me irresponsible.
I had spent afternoons using coupons while he moved money between accounts I wasn't told about.
Even if every transfer proved lawful, the imbalance of information had hurt our marriage.
That same week, I received an interview invitation from the library system.
A full-time community services position had opened at another branch.
The salary was modest but included benefits.
I practiced interview answers with Mara at her dining table.
She asked what I did when a program went wrong.
I told her about a children's reading event when the guest presenter never arrived.
I had improvised a scavenger hunt using paper animal tracks.
Twenty-seven children had spent forty minutes searching for a cardboard fox.
Mara laughed.
“That's your answer.”
At the interview, I talked about organizing schedules and budgets.
I did not talk about divorce unless asked about availability.
I wore a blue blouse Ellie had helped me choose.
Ben told me it made me look like a principal.
Afterward I picked the children up from school.
“Did you get the job?” he asked.
“They have to decide.”
“That seems inefficient.”
I laughed.
Scott called that evening asking about the interview.
“Someone at the library mentioned it,” he said.
“I'm applying for full-time work.”
“Now you're going to pretend you're a career woman?”
I stared at the wall.
It was such a familiar way for him to make effort sound foolish.
“I'm trying to support myself and the children,” I said.
“You never needed to work full-time before.”
“Things are different now.”
He hung up first.
I put my phone in the drawer and returned to helping Ben with fractions.
Two days later Ellen called.
The library offered me the job.
My pay would not begin until the next month.
I would need help with a few afternoon pickups.
The position didn't solve everything.
But when I told the children, they cheered.
Ellie asked whether I would still be home for dinner.
“Most nights,” I said.
She nodded.
“Then I think you should take it.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: The Children Met with a Counselor While Their Parents Learned the Difference Between Being Heard and Winning
The Night Scott Put Divorce Papers Beside Our Dinner and Mistook My Signature for Surrender
Part 10 of 16
