Instead, the mediator asked what each of us needed to feel financially secure and safe moving forward.

Gavin talked about respect.

He said he felt excluded from decisions about Selena’s education and embarrassed by the Career Club.

He claimed that I had stopped treating him like an equal partner.

I listened and then spoke about twelve years of deposits, about being told that our daughter’s ambition was an indulgence, and about the moment I saw forty-three dollars where the account balance should have been.

“I want Selena’s savings restored,” I said.