She’d once seen footage of a man jumping from that bridge, and like the falling Twin Towers, it was the sort of image that got permanently burned into one’s memory the instant one saw it. Within a week, she’d more or less decided on it. Not right now, but if it came to that, if she needed a plan, it would be The Bridge. The thought crept into her mind every day, and every day, it lingered a little longer.

* * *

Kaveh brought or prepared her food all the time, trying to work around her growing aversion to find something she liked, which only made her feel more wretched. She hated the thought that he might find her difficult. On Friday, it was Chinese takeout. “I have brought you some options,” he said, unpacking his takeout bag. “That’s French for ‘options.’”

The “options” were Ma Po tofu, egg rolls, and garlic broccoli. Even the garlic broccoli, the least offensive of the options, felt to her like a box of dead worms.

Don’t let facial expressions betray your disgust. Gratitude, express gratitude.

“Thank you.”

She watched the way he tore in and ate like a normal person, plucking bites of sesame chicken with his chopsticks and popping them into his mouth as he talked about his day. Hadn’t she been able to do that, at one point? Didn’t food, a thing one needed to live, once taste good? She muscled through the rice and broccoli, straining to finish half of it as if she were running a marathon. She knew she had to eat, so why did this feel like punishment?

Soon, they were in his living room watching CNN as he worked. She sat near him on the couch, but not next to him, nothing that might seem entitled to his attention. Everything on TV that wasn’t about the Third Option or ignorant speculation about ETIs was about the ever-free-falling economy. The unemployment numbers released had hit a new high at 11.5 percent, and future projections did not look good. This had nothing to do with anything alien, but the news sure made it seem like it did.

“Does it bother you that I have this on?” he asked.

God, yes, she thought and answered, “No, of course not.”