lie

t piece of silver my mother had treasured. Alex' s mother, a woman whose compli

d said, her eyes flicking to the diamond necklace Alex h

ual cruelty. He knew how much the locket meant to me. It was the only

ld it. What he had was a cheap replica

to haunt me. A memo

eady. "I' m busy tomorrow. Just lea

phone and fell into a

feeling of b

f gray morning light cut through the bl

eaped into

mel

l

d terrible. His clothes were rumpled, his hair was a

small velvet box. "I came to bri

aced it on the nightstand, next to t

, my voice a monotone

or my hand. "This is us. Ten years. We' ve built a life together

ne. It used to feel like coming

"We had no furniture, just a mattress on the floor and two boxes of takeout. You fell asleep

ay. The skin he had

night filled with a different kind of despair, a desperate attempt to make the pain on the

hifting, becoming firmer. "She needs her

stared

I said, the words falling l

I' d spoken in a forei

ossession next week." I sighed, a weary

ng. Then he stood up abruptly. "I... I h

even a back

t as a free woman was to walk to the smar

mind a quiet, empty space, but my body remembered t

out of bed and my hip bumped against the nightstand. Th

open. Inside, nestled on the velvet, was t

was engraved on the back. My finger

ght. A + K. A

ed to my feet, my hands shaking as I went to the safe in the wa

another velvet box. The one cont

ened

ofter, with the patina

d brought me their locket. A symbol of thei

aped my lips. My eyes b

ide-by-side on the bed. One a memory of a fractured, pain

box, addressed it to Alex' s off

p to make before m

I didn' t even have to open the door. I

onfidential murmur. "Always so serious. It' s draining. I mean, remember h

y life, the vulnerabilities I had only ever shared with him,

ed, his voice softening. "You' re like a r

l to steady myself. This was a new kind of pain. A violation far deeper than infidelity. He w

hallway started to shri

f their laughter chasing me do