Chapter 8

The air inside the planetarium still hummed with the residual energy of the presentation, a low, electric vibration that seemed to vibrate in the marrow of my bones. We had just stepped out from beneath the massive, artificial dome where the constellations had danced and merged, where the cosmos had been reduced to a manageable, intimate spectacle just for us. The transition from that curated darkness back into the mundane, fluorescent-lit lobby felt jarring, almost violent in its brightness. My eyes adjusted slowly, squinting against the sudden influx of reality, but my hand was firmly anchored in his, his fingers interlaced with mine in a grip that was both possessive and tender. He didn’t let go. Not when we navigated through the crowd of other families, other couples, other people whose lives were bound by the simple, unremarkable threads of daily existence. He kept that tight, guiding hold, pulling me slightly ahead of him, shielding me from the casual bumps of the exiting crowd. I could feel the heat of his palm through the thin fabric of my blouse, a brand of his ownership that I wore like a second skin. Every time his thumb brushed against the back of