On the way home, Iris passed a small jewelry shop.

For a moment she thought about selling her wedding ring.

She had no sentimental wish to preserve the marriage, but she disliked the idea of rushing to turn a painful object into money.

Instead she took it to a jeweler and asked whether the metal could be remade into something simple.

The jeweler showed her sketches for a narrow pendant.

“No deadline,” Iris said.