My Peace Offer, His Agony

After Ava breaks the silence between them, she finds a box of condoms in Alex’s car and quietly puts it away. He explains that the box is untouched, then promises to visit her family for New Year’s and see her mother. Ava says nothing: her mother is dead, and Alex still does not know.

Alex fails to appear on New Year’s Day, then again the next morning, though her aunt and uncle prepare a feast and wait. He calls from the hospital, saying Sophie is in surgery and he cannot leave. Ava tells him not to come and that they have something to discuss when she returns.

At her mother’s grave, Ava whispers an apology for losing the son-in-law her mother loved. On the train back to the city, she reviews the divorce agreement she had her lawyer draft, demanding all cash assets and real estate. At the station she runs into Alex—and Sophie, who was supposedly in surgery, standing beside him looking perfectly fine.