Synopsis
Set in Miami, Florida, this story recounts the dilemma experienced by a married Cuban-American woman who falls in love with her Argentinian-American lover. But she adores her husband and refuses to leave him. When the lovers can’t find a way out, she agrees to clone herself for him—with unforeseeable results.
Related Essay #1: “The Dissemble”
Why do we create alternate versions of ourselves in order to fit into relationships that don’t work?
Related Essay #2: “Adulteration”
The author discusses women’s hypocrisy when it comes to affairs.
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Excerpt:
“So, what about this cloning business?”
It was the third time he’d asked since they’d started secretly meeting for lunch to stare at each other, steal the occasional kiss, and indulge in fleeting caresses. Over the months that now crept toward a year, they had sometimes met for drinks too, often in dimly lit South Beach hotel bars and lounges with fireplaces. They chose banquettes whenever they could, which allowed them to inch closer together instead of sitting a world away across a table.
The woman would never leave her husband, whom she loved and still desired after 12 years. She hoped to grow old with him and, with luck, experience simultaneous death— perhaps in an accident of some sort. That way they might each be spared the anguish of being without the other. But still, she desired this forbidden man in a way that left her breathless.
Upon meeting the woman, the lover experienced palpable understanding of the term struck by lightning. Le coup de foudre, the French called it. A widower and solitary man who’d given up hope of ever falling in love again, he found her alluring, irresistible, and fun.…
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