Page 203 of Say My Name

A small smile pulls at her mouth as she takes a drink.

Her smile unties a final knot of tension in my chest. We don’t need the old rules. We need new ones. Our ones. I find a pen beside her laptop and pull a sheet from the cabin’s notepad.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Replacing the contract.”

Her smile disappears. “Dominic.”

“You’ll like this one.”

“I hated the last one.”

“You wrote most of it.”

“That was a product of emotional duress.”

“You revised it with independent counsel.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Yours.”

The answer quiets her.

I number the page.

“What are the terms?” she asks.

“I will show up.”

She watches as I write it down.

“I will bring notebooks to every appointment, even when you mock me for it.”

“That needs to be limited to one notebook per appointment.”

“Rejected.”

“You can’t just reject it. That’s not how negotiating works.”

“I just did.”

I add the next line.

“I will get the water.”

“That isn’t a relationship term.”

“It’s essential.”

“It’s overreach.”

“It’s a glass of water, Elena.”

“It starts with water. Next you’ll be monitoring caffeine and trying to buy a fetal heart monitor.”

I look at her.