Outside, the day was gray and cold.
Kayla stood beneath the studio awning while Miriam came to collect her. Owen’s car waited at the curb.
He opened the passenger door.
“Come on. We can talk at home.”
“I’m not getting in.”
His expression sharpened.
“You’re going to drag your friend into our marriage over a tattoo?”
“Over what you did.”
He lowered his voice.
“Elena meant something to me.”
Kayla looked at him.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. You’ve always acted like my life began when we met.”
She stared.
Elena had been mentioned throughout their marriage.
Elena understood his work.
Elena liked the music Kayla did not.
Elena never minded when he canceled plans.
Whenever Kayla said the comparisons hurt, Owen insisted she was insecure.
“You don’t have to compete with someone who isn’t here.”
But apparently Elena was still here.
Now her name was on Kayla’s body.
“What did you expect me to do?” Kayla asked.
Owen glanced away.
“I thought you’d appreciate the significance.”
“To whom?”
He said nothing.
Kayla waited.
Finally, he muttered, “She’s getting married.”
The words changed the air between them.
“You’ve been talking to her?”
“She told me.”
“And you decided to put her name on me?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then tell me what it was like.”
He looked toward the studio window.
“I wanted something permanent. Something that didn’t just disappear because she moved on.”
Kayla could not speak.
He had made her body the place where he would keep another woman.
Miriam’s car pulled up.
Kayla opened the door with her right hand.
Owen caught the edge of it.
“Don’t leave like this.”
She looked at his hand.
“Let go.”
After a moment, he did.
She got into the car.
Miriam took one look at her face and drove without asking for the story until Kayla was ready to tell it.
