Chapter 3: How Long
I looked at the ring.
It was mine.
I knew every detail of it — the slight asymmetry in the setting, the tiny scratch on the inside of the band from when I'd caught it on a car door two years ago.
I had worn it every day for fourteen months.
It fit Kayla's finger perfectly.
"How long," I said.
Neither of them answered.
"How long." My voice didn't rise.
That surprised me.
Brandon stood up from the bed, reaching for his shirt on the floor.
"Nicole, just let me explain —"
"I'm not asking you." I looked at Kayla.
"I'm asking her."
Kayla pulled the sheet tighter.
Something moved across her face — not regret.
Calculation.
She was deciding how much to say.
"Six months," she finally said.
Six months.
I had been planning a wedding for fourteen.
I had been picking centerpieces, tasting cake samples, arguing with Brandon about whether to invite his college roommate.
Six months ago I had shown Kayla the dress I'd chosen.
She had cried.
She told me I looked beautiful.
Lily made a sound beside me — small, sharp, like something had caught in her throat.
"Lily," I said quietly.
"Go downstairs."
"Mom —"
"Please."
She didn't move right away.
She looked at Kayla with an expression I had never seen on my daughter's face before.
Then she let go of my hand and walked to the stairs.
Brandon had his shirt on now.
He was trying to look composed and failing.
"Nicole, I know how this looks —"
"Take the ring off her finger," I said.
Kayla's chin came up.
"Nicole —"
"Take it off, Kayla."
"We need to talk about this like adults —"
"That ring was bought with money I earned.
It is not yours.
Take it off."
A long pause.
Then Kayla reached up and slid it off.
She set it on the nightstand without looking at me.
The small sound it made against the wood was very loud.
Brandon took a step toward me.
"I know I should have told you.
I know that.
But things between us — Nicole, things haven't been right for a long time.
You know that."
"I was in the ICU," I said.
"For ten days."
"I know."
"You came once.
Twenty minutes."
He looked at the floor.
"I didn't know what to say to you."
"So you came home to my sister instead."
He didn't answer.
That was its own kind of answer.
I picked the ring up from the nightstand.
I held it for a moment.
Then I put it in my jacket pocket.
"I want you both out of this apartment," I said.
"Today."
Brandon's head came up fast.
"Nicole, this is my apartment too —"
"Your name is not on the lease." I held his gaze.
"Mine is.
And my daughter lives here.
So I'm going to go downstairs, and I'm going to sit with Lily, and when I come back up in one hour, I want you both gone."
Kayla stood up from the bed.
She was angry now — I could see it in the set of her jaw, the way her shoulders had squared.
"You can't just erase this, Nicole.
Brandon and I —"
"I'm not erasing anything." I turned toward the door.
"I'm just done."
I walked out.
I pulled the bedroom door shut behind me.
I stood in the hallway for three seconds with my hand flat against the wall and my eyes closed, breathing through the tape on my ribs.
Then I went downstairs to my daughter.
Lily was sitting at the kitchen table.
She had made two cups of tea — mine was already there, waiting, steam rising slowly.
I sat down across from her.
She looked at me.
"How are you?"
"I don't know yet," I said honestly.
She nodded like that was the right answer.
We sat there together in the quiet kitchen, both hands wrapped around our cups, and didn't say anything else for a while.
Then my phone buzzed on the table.
A text from a number I didn't recognize.
*Nicole.
There's something you need to know.
May you like
Something they haven't told you yet.
Please call me.*
