Shattered Vows, Stolen Nights

e y

ht he is smiling at the waiter like

t smiled

nd expensive. The kind of place that makes you feel like your life

for both of us.

waiter. Smooth. Easy. Like he already kn

he waiter w

ot say

e nothing to say. But because you have learned, slowly, the way you learn to walk around a bru

ou s

up and you realise the sil

s cuts his steak cleanly. Precise. No mess.

my wine

s good,

Valerie. It is a twenty

kno

ot sound

. It always has been. Clean lines and easy confidenc

pressed,

back to

etween us fl

own at m

ba

I told him once, early on, laughing about it. I thought it was one of those small things

for

er stored it in

week." I say it care

look up. "What

t wanted

say something you have said a hundred times. Tired of it

my best

a dist

my lips

e it

y people, reduced. My world, gently, consistently, carefully made smaller. Not with a shout. Never with a shout. Marcus does not shout.

up my

it bac

to the bathr

s not

The kind of light that is supposed to make

ror and I do not look like

ok t

ixes. The kind that sits behind yo

and throws it back at me. Three carats. A perfect stone. Marcus chose i

to move before

ke they belong

the ri

es off

to be harder. Maybe I thought five years would weigh something. Maybe

slide

e holding it in my pa

so s

so small take up s

t sits there catching the light. It keeps being beautiful e

at my b

my fing

hey show it in films. Just a small, final shifting. Like a

face in the mirro

a dress Marcus picked and heels Marcus preferred and pe

stened to her husband talk about a deal worth twenty

about

clutch off

athe

t of the

loths. People leaning in close over expensive meals, laughing, to

ft for th

as his phone out now. His elbow on the

k up to see if

st as

That is the whole marri

st as

eet

and sudden, like a fist

n I tur

ices and the glow of ten thousand lit windows stacked up against the dark sky. The skyline is beautiful the w

hit the

s loud in m

p. Two.

. Waiting for the pull. Five years should feel like a rope on your ankle

keep w

step feels like something landing on solid gr

rts buzzing

w who it is b

ll i

rc

my name for five years. The name I signed on things. The name people called

e keeps

d stay

ight up and go dim

oor opens. A couple steps out laughi

zzing

le

rts again i

t used t

ame face-dow

p wal

. Real and clean and nothing like the inside of

it out

no

Crestho

l starting to come bac

ot goin

voice barely carries pas

said

sting once, fast and unexp

p wal

en, qu

tween one breat

e woman I was and whoev

exactly a