After His Mistress Took My Baby, I Took Everything

Synopsis

I wore champagne silk because Xavier said it was his favorite color on me. That was three years ago, but I held onto it. That's the thing about a marriage going quiet—you start collecting the small kindnesses like artifacts, proof that it was real. The bracelet was on my left wrist. Pale green jade, worn smooth at the edges, the clasp slightly loose in the way I'd never fixed because my mother had worn it loose too. I pressed my right hand flat against my stomach once, just for a second, standing in the elevator on the way up to the rooftop. A private thing. A secret I'd carried for eleven days, waiting for the right moment. Tonight was supposed to be it. The party was beautiful.