We Do What We Do in the Dark

by Michelle Hart

That the woman had an enormous ego—that any woman had an ego like that, something Mallory wasn’t sure she’d seen before—delighted her.

When Mallory asked why her mother wasn’t bothered by what happened, her mother said, “Because I know Hannah hurt you.” Mallory swelled with affection for her mother. She felt protected. Also, she found surprising delight in the fact that a middle-aged woman could be as secretive and petty as a teenage girl.

What did it matter, Mallory wondered now, whether a woman was pretty or funny? She was fucked either way.

“You know,” Caroline said, “there’s this word in Japanese, boketto, which is when you stare off into the distance in such a way that you lose track of yourself.