Chapter 5: The Page

The page had five rules.

I read them again on Sunday morning at our kitchen table in Lakeview, with a bowl of cereal going soft next to my elbow.

Rule one said that in his bedroom I did what he told me, and I said out loud what I wanted.

Rule two said he decided when I came.

Rule three said neither of us touched anyone else while this lasted.

Rule four said Preston's name was not spoken in that room.

Rule five said it lasted until one of us ended it, and that he would tell me the truth when I asked.

Skye sat across from me in her pajama pants with a coffee mug the size of a soup bowl.

She had read the page twice, holding it by the corner.

"This is a hostage note," she said.

"It's a contract."

"With a man you met on Friday."

"Yes."

"Who is the father of the man you were supposed to marry yesterday."

"I'm aware, Skye."

She set the page down and looked at me for a long time.

"Okay," she said. "Do you like him?"

I thought about the question properly.

"He didn't ask me to be smaller," I said.

"What does that mean?"

"Preston used to say I was a lot. He said it nicely. He said it so many times I started to carry it around."

Skye's face softened.

"Benedict looked at me last night," I said, "and I felt like exactly enough."

"Okay," she said again, in a different voice. "Then I have one rule."

"What?"

"If he makes you cry, I'll key his car."

"It would be an expensive car."

"I know a guy who does it for free."

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