The Milo-Lena farce left Carmen with new questions about identity: what kind of woman has two names?

As he stared at Carmen like the stray puzzle piece she was, he realized he must have been set up.

Carmen and Milo began sleeping in the same bed together. They went to obscure clubs, flirted with other men, then went home and slept with each other. Carmen knew very little about Milo’s life, but as the days passed, she couldn’t bring herself to ask. She assumed Milo had told her these things [...]

A woman named Milo called about the room for rent.

Carmen began spending her nights in front of a muted TV, staring at the wall and thinking of James.

When James reached Carmen on the bridge, she hugged him. Her hair smelled like oranges, and her skin smelled like caramel and saltwater.

James was the type of guy, Carmen decided, who probably bought high-fashion shirts and never wore them.

“The last man I loved said I’ve got a voice like a spider web. Then he left me.”

The first time Carmen saw James, she believed he was asleep with his eyes open.

His eyes are hollow, black, on a face that seems without a mouth.