“Except you,” I said. I was rewarded with the sight of her looking up at me. “T care about you,” I said. “You cared about me.” I shook my head. “No, I didn’t misspeak.” “You certainly moved on fast enough with Rex North.” I frowned at her. “Celia, you know better than that.” “So it was fake.” “Every moment.” “Have you been with anyone else? Any men?” she asked. She was always jealous of the men, worried she couldn’t compete. I was jealous of the women, worried I wouldn’t compare. “T’ve had a good time,” I said. “As I’m sure you’ve had.” “John isn’t—” “Tm not talking about John. But I’m sure you haven’t kept chaste.” I was fishing for information that might break my heart, a flaw of the human condition. “No,” she said. “You’re right about that.” “Men?” I asked, hoping the answer was yes. If it was men, I knew it didn’t mean anything to her. She shook her head, and my heart broke just a little bit more, like a tear that deepens from strain. “Anyone I know?” “None of them were famous,” she said. “None of them meant anything to me. I touched them and thought of what it felt like to touch ” you. My heart both ached and swelled to hear it. “You shouldn’t have left me, Celia.” “You shouldn’t have let me leave.” And with that, I had no more fight in me. My heart cried out the truth through my throat. “I know. I know that. I know.”