Kayla thought the letters were upside down.
She turned her left forearm toward the window, trying to make sense of the small cursive word beneath the swelling. Casey had finished cleaning the tattoo and moved the lamp away. The machine rested silently on the workstation.
It should have said “Enough.”
Six letters. A word Kayla had chosen after a difficult year, something she wanted to see whenever she forgot that she did not have to earn the right to take up space.
But the first letter was wrong.
So was the second.
She looked again.
Elena.
Kayla’s stomach dropped.
She lifted her arm and turned toward her husband.
“That’s your ex’s name!”
Owen stood beside the chair in his taupe overshirt, one hand in his pocket. He looked at the tattoo without surprise.
Behind him, Casey glanced between them.
“He sent the final design.”
Kayla drew her arm against her chest.
“You changed it?”
Owen gave a small, dismissive smile.
“You wanted something meaningful.”
The studio seemed to tilt around her.
For several seconds, Kayla could hear the air moving through the ventilation system and a car passing outside. Ordinary sounds, continuing while something impossible sat beneath her skin.
She pushed herself upright.
“Tell me you didn’t.”
Owen’s smile faded.
“Don’t start.”
Casey removed her gloves.
“Wait. What was your approved design?”
Kayla reached for her phone with her right hand. Her fingers were shaking so badly that she entered the wrong code.
Owen stepped closer.
“Let’s talk in the car.”
She moved away from him.
“No.”
She unlocked the phone and opened the image she had sent weeks earlier.
Enough.
Casey stared at the screen.
Then she looked at the tattoo.
“Oh, no.”
Owen exhaled.
“You’re both making this dramatic.”
Kayla looked at him, searching for an explanation that would make him someone she recognized.
“Why is Elena’s name on my arm?”
He looked toward the door.
For the first time since she had entered the studio, she understood that he wanted to leave before anyone asked another question.
