He went into a back room full of canvas mail carts.

A minute later he came back holding a small brown envelope.

He turned the envelope upside down over the counter tray.

A single silver key fell onto the plastic with a sharp click.

“That’s box number four twelve,” he said.

I picked the silver key up.

It felt amazingly light in my hand.

Renting this box meant I was officially putting up a legal wall between myself and my husband.