Opening my legs for her to stand between them, I look up at her, and she looks down at me. “It’s a shame,” she says softly, “how you can be so beautiful on the outside but then so ugly inside.” The words get lodged in my throat, and I pull her down on me. She puts one knee beside my hip and then, with the other, straddles me. She plays with my hair. “Such a shame,” she repeats, as if I’m not here, as if she’s talking to herself.
