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BASTIANO ROMANO
Days Missing: 13
It wasn’t a conscious decision to tell Ariana about Elsa and Everett. Like the trust we’d built, like the feelings we shared, like the way I’d come to rely on her, it just happened.
One day, I hated her.
The next, I couldn’t live without her.
Her arms were the therapy I’d chosen, the hospital I wished to heal in. I came home each night exhausted. I left each morning revived.
Like magic.
She traced Everett’s name on my ribcage, toying with the tattoo as we laid in bed.
“He’s my son.”
Her fingers on my tattoo froze, pressing down hard on my skin. I didn’t even think she realized it.
“You have a son?”
“I’m not in the habit of tattooing random names on my flesh.”
Her cheeks reddened. “I figured it was maybe a place or… a girl. An ex-girlfriend, maybe? Like how Jamie and Parker are both boy and girl names.”
“I do have an ex. Her name is Elsa, and if I had her name tattooed on my body, I’d burn it off with acid.”
I wasn’t kidding. I would. And then I’d have to talk myself down from dumping her in the vat of acid, too.
“Is Elsa Everett’s mother?”
“Yes. An unfortunate egg donor.”
She propped her chin on my chest and stared into my eyes.
Her eyes took their time studying me before she accused, “You hate her.”
“Understatement.”
“How did it happen?”
“Everett?” I pulled Ariana’s body up, so she was half on top of me, her face close to mine.
“Yes, but also Elsa. People don’t go from love to hate.”
“Have you seen the divorce stats in this country?”
She winced. “You were married?”
“No, but I almost proposed.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I met Elsa in college. I was doing my master’s at Wharton, and she was in all of my classes. The smartest girl in the program, but if you looked at her now, you wouldn’t know it.”
“So, you met in college and fell in love. Why?”
“She was the exact opposite of New York. No glitz. No glamour. She had the pretty face and the complete utter lack of makeup, the cowboy boots, and the Daisy Dukes. The wicked humor, the wit, and the intellect. She made me feel like I wasn’t living in the world I’d been born in. She was easy to love.”
