an ever gave me was

dusty little shop

bright, "is for all the late-n

s a p

of f

omises, collected over

e, the promises felt as fragile

mogul husband

rted s

ssistan

her name once

as a constant h

sted this

mlined my

is incredib

now held a different kind of

ense, almost

catch her eye a

essionalism, barel

think, was like

er, this new, sh

mach t

ginning of some

d forgett

inner reservation

l late meeting" that Ava

irony wasn'

life, even as he built

this man I lo

s a constan

ilt shelf in our living room, a testamen

n't jus

o count down, to

d to go was "La

missed our

ream, I did

over worn at the edges from how

pristine, modern kitchen,

was sharp,

bolic act of

forty-ni

bye, a countdown to the

nowing this secret ritua

l in a situation spir

iled up, each o

et me for my gallery ope

our before, hi

ith Ava. A crisis with the new

ven sound t

record he'd bought me after we'd da

ac

oken, another piec

was the cha

e co-c

, fetching her drinks, laughing at her jo

d was a publ

ical piece we'd listened to while plann

lect was vivid, burnin

to my freedom, but each crack also

ent grew, a

he be so

l foundation dinner

et to recei

for months – a small, antique music box th

bout it, how muc

y hand, and said, "We'l

dding

ed my

om across the

ent throug

won

t, thinking he remembered, t

riumphant smile on his face, an

rking woman I know," he announced, his

surprised,

ned for a moment, th

my taste, Ethan," she said, lo

ht, without even looking at m

e ballroom, where a large d

dropped

red on impact. The music

lic

t of ev

s lullaby,

s a physical blow,

ayal was

over me, cold

lty was

was deep, the

stop me, but I w

els, hiked up my g

ed my system, but I

he slime and discarded pa

ed around the shattered

logged, the delica

st, shivering, water drip

ing, oblivious. Or perh

ts on my hands from the broken pieces, meant n

bout my mother, about memory, about his utte

a stubborn, painful attachment I couldn't

nt – the cold, the slime, the br

umns were havi

is Mysterious Protégé Ava Sha

ation dinner, him beaming a

s wife, wading t

eing our private pain be

mment from one of Ethan's colleagues,

on a project he was passionate about, something

d by her intell

iration had morphed into th

ich he'd discarded five years of marriage for

ises, reduced to n

was a cr

va came to the h

posedly at a

tone cool, almost chall

what,

tracted. Unhappy. I think

d sharp, flar

I'm* stressi

d in then,

ce, and immediately p

e?" he asked, his vo

about Ava's

, a put-u

e I'm under. This whole thing... it's just a phase. A ma

ation for his actions, for his em

, the dismiss

ess washe

y, stubborn ember of hope

s truly

throw away every

remaining reco

ne a c

ent, to give him a fin

remaining toke

ell him. Thi

for my heart to

was a battlefield of p

rmination wa

was a

e music room, sta

alk seriously," he s

e igniting. Maybe this was it. Maybe he

s me, his expres

ng," he began, "a

h?" I was

nd Ava... she's actually very caring. She

od ran

you sayi

comfort me, but his gri

ed in for a while. To help look afte

ative horror of his suggestion, he

the guest room, how we

ing to pull awa

tened. He was

my foot caught on th

lost my balance,

consumed me was his face, not shock

n't an a

was a

her into

care

me betrayal, the physical pain –

vity was