Sophie made eye contact with the bulbous frog planted in the middle of the stone path. She slowed her breathing so that her inhales and exhales matched the swell and contraction of the frog’s neck and walked toward it. The early morning mist pooled around her ankles. Sophie had forgotten to take her shoes when she snuck out of the Airbnb. The path’s stones were damp and cold against her bare feet. She pulled her wool scarf tighter around her shoulders. When she reached the stone before the frog’s landing, Sophie crossed her ankles and lowered herself into a seated position, never breaking eye contact. Sophie stuck out her left hand, pointer finger extended, and gently rubbed the flat, clammy skin atop the frog’s head. Even in the dim twilight, the 18 carat oval cut diamond engagement ring, a new fixture on her hand, twinkled mockingly. It felt to her like an anvil, an anchor, handcuffs, or those plastic twist ties. She’d wanted to leave it behind on the bedside table, but it would have been far more contentious to explain that to Adam than her general absence from their bed if he woke.

It was only two weeks ago, when Adam started commenting on what from her wardrobe she might like to pack for their long weekend in Carmel-by-the-Sea, that her suspicion the engagement was coming began. And then the dread followed. She had, in the last six months of their yearlong relationship, successfully deflected his attempts at getting her to move into his cozy duplex. They still only saw each other, at most, four nights a week. When Sophie first met Adam, three martinis deep after a botched job, he was only a consolation prize. But feigning normalcy with him quickly became addicting, her most essential coping mechanism.

A slimy film coated Sophie’s fingertip as she lifted it from the frog to inspect it. Unthinkingly, she traced the raised six-inch scar on her left calf, coating it in a thin layer of mucus. From the waistband of her leggings, she pulled out her chrome Liliput pistol and set it next to the frog, which continued to croak, unbothered. Sophie slipped her ring from her finger and set it on the other side of the frog.

“You choose,” she instructed the amphibian.

The choice seemed that arbitrary to her.