Chapter 2

Before Patrick got married, his life was simple.

A tent, a backpack that held all his toiletries and two changes of clothes.

After we married, with all my fussing and arranging, we had a home.

The cream-colored walls, I painted them myself, section by section, in the blazing heat.

A wooden table someone had thrown out, I sanded and lacquered it by hand into a pretty blue-green.

The wardrobe, the couch, the desk, the bed, even the pots and pans in the kitchen, I gathered all of it piece by piece, like an ant hauling its home together.

Did any of this belong to Patrick?

No.

It belonged to me.

But I couldn't take pieces this big with me when I left.

So I dragged everything I could move out to the front door and put it up for sale, dirt cheap.

A neighbor came over, testing the waters, and picked up my favorite handmade clay vase.

"Five bucks."

I said it calmly.

"Luna, you're really selling it? All of this, all of it, you don't want any of it?"

The neighbors were desert locals. Patrick never wanted me mixing with them, but I loved hearing their stories about the desert, so whenever he was out leading an expedition I'd go looking for their company.

That vase, this neighbor had asked me for it more than once, offering to trade me meat for it.

But I'd molded it with my own hands for Patrick, and I could never bear to part with it, no matter the price.

Now, though, the feeling behind it was gone, and it was worth five dollars.

She dropped five dollars, scooped up the vase, and walked off.

When she'd gotten a good distance away and saw I wasn't chasing her or changing my mind, she set the vase down and called over every friend and relative she knew.

They crowded in front of my door, picking through everything.

Patrick came home while I was selling the big double bed.

That bed had been a real ordeal to make, board by board saved up and then pieced together by a carpenter.

Big and solid. Patrick had patted it once, satisfied, and said, "Luna, we're going to have three kids someday. The little ones sleep on this side, and I'll sleep on the edge."

"Who said I'd ever have your kids." I muttered it, but I couldn't stop the sweetness swelling in my chest.

Who would have guessed how much would change while the things stayed the same.

The tears came again before I could help it.

A relative the neighbor had brought was picking at flaws, getting ready to haggle me down. When he saw the tears, he flung the cash into my arms and called his brothers over to haul the bed away.

"We agreed you'd sell it, Luna. No backing out now."

I wiped my eyes and was about to shake my head when I saw Patrick standing a little way off, staring at the front of the house, stunned.

When his eyes met mine, he was furious.

"Luna, you really have let me down!"

"It's just a few rose quartz roses. It's not like you don't have any. And here you are throwing a fit, chucking things out."

"You think this will make me back down? No. This makes me sick of you!"

"A woman crying, carrying on, threatening to hang herself. When someone else does it, it's cute. When you do it, it's just cheap!"

One line after another came out of Patrick's mouth, each one cutting.

I listened, numb, and only when he'd finished did I say, "This isn't a fit."

"I've decided to leave you."

"Hah." Patrick sneered. "Luna, I've been too good to you all these years. Spoiled you into acting like some princess."

"Diana's birthday is tonight. You trashed her name on social media, so tonight you'll go there, grovel, and apologize. If Diana forgives you, I'll keep living with you. Otherwise…"

Patrick didn't finish, but the threat was clear enough. Otherwise, he'd dump me.

He left me there and went inside, and before long he shouted, "Luna!"

The neighbor and her friends and relatives were craning their necks to watch the show. I didn't want to become anyone's gossip, so I went in.

Patrick looked put out. "Where's the cash we keep in the house?"

"It's Diana's birthday, and she wants a necklace. I went and looked. It's twenty-five thousand at the counter. Hurry up and get the money out. Any later and someone else will have it reserved!"