Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

“Hey, maybe they’ll want to do a Before and After photo
spread! Those are always fun. I think I’ve also still got a bunch
of photos from the summer between fifth and sixth grades
when your parents sent you to fat camp.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“I love you, too.”
After a moment, she raises her glass to me in a toast.
“Okay. You win. I’ll just keep on thinking he’s got a dick
longer than my forearm.”
I grimace. “I’d be in the hospital.”
This is when she notices the ring on my finger and freezes.
She stares at it like it’s a hairy tarantula crawling up my hand.
“What…is…that?”
“A ring.”
“No shit! Did you get engaged without telling me?”
I twist the interlocking bands of gold around on my finger,
shaking my head. I say softly, “It’s a promise ring.”
Examining my expression, she narrows her eyes. “Was this
promise a suicide pact?”
I sigh, scrub my hands over my face, then swallow a big
gulp of wine. Mojo decides it’s time to go back to sleep and
curls up under the table. “It’s not an engagement ring, because
we can’t get engaged. He’s not allowed to marry anyone
except who his boss tells him to.”
When her mouth drops open in shock, I look down at the
tabletop and add miserably, “We can’t live together, either. He
doesn’t think it’s safe for me. And we’re only going to be
seeing each other every once in a while, when he can get
away. However often that might be, which sounds like it won’t
be very often.” I hesitate. “And…”
“Sweet Jesus, there’s more?”
“Yeah.” I down another swig of wine, then exhale a heavy
breath. “He can’t have kids. No, that’s not it—he doesn’t want
kids, so he had a vasectomy when he was younger.”