The home equity line of credit showed an available balance of zero dollars, recorded as permanently frozen by court order.

The thirty-eight-thousand-dollar deficit was formally listed as under legal audit, with no further draws allowed.

I set the statement down beside my mug and looked across the quiet kitchen counter.

The furnace clicked on in the basement below, humming smoothly without the rattle that had started back in February.

I had paid the six-thousand-four-hundred-dollar furnace repair bill from my own checking account three weeks ago.

Every monthly gas and electric account was now in my name alone.