ir'

t bit. It did not stay on the surface of the

my forehead pressed against th

fists against the heavy door until my knuckles went pur

and off-season supplies and died. Outside, in the cor

The corridor light snapped on, throwing a hard

s hands in his pockets, his

muffled through the seal. "The neighbo

palms pressed flat against the door. "I'm not lying! It feels

ontemptuous laugh

pies, hormone injections-ten days late is hardly unusual. I keep your cycle on my master calendar so I can book your fertili

leeding between cycles means something has ruptured! Easton, for God's sa

o her elbow and an expression of carefully calculated grievance on her face. The diamond bracelet on

oes to a hospital, she'll file a false domestic-abuse report just to get out of paying for the sapphire.

s had struck the deepest, most obsessive nerve

lks out that door tonight, she will never come back. I have to keep her here.

t and hollow. "Arianna needs an X-ray on her arm. When we ge

! Don't lea

and did not look

om door, the corner of her mouth lifting in a fai

imed; the heavy

idor lights w

over me, thicker an

ike a blade; white light burst behind my eyes. I collapsed entirely onto the concre

t liquid kept coming-st

d. In the faint green glow of the temperature display, when I brought my

focating truth

rom the endless stimulation injections and laparoscopies. I had not used a pregnancy test, bec

been a lif

that scar tissue, against the freezing lake, against year

n's five-degree storage room, that small life w

ence, my blood-soaked hand pressed hard agains

my cheeks felt scalding

g a hollow black void at the core of me-and then my body gave up entirely. My head fell to the side; my

.

morning light was coming through the sm

My whole body felt like an empty shell, disconnected from the world.

n at the flo

d soaked through my wool coat, through my trousers, and spread across

that dark pool lay a small

o tears left in me. In the hours while my ch

on the do

ap, the heavy bolt releas

nd dark trousers, and he was holding two ceramic coffee cups. He looked rested a

h a sardonic curl of his lip, "finally calmed down, Bl

on the floor, looking up at him wit

ectly level, without a trace of

look of intense satisfaction

ive without me. Now I can forgive her magnanimously. I'll buy her a new

me out. Take a hot bath. And then we'll discuss h

floor, pushed myself up, and walk

d crates and into the full light of the corr

with dried, dark brown blood, clotted into great bl

slipped from

een us, hot brown liquid splas

is mouth fell open; his chest heaved; his eyes we

ble. You're- yo