You knew what my email really meant and why I sent it, to set you free for your non-existent earlier true love. It was me lovingly letting you go to b... happy with him, but you knew the truth – that I was deceived.“After all you said about us, you couldn’t wait for me to come home again, could you? Straight into bed with someone else!“I only found out I’d been lied to at the party when I got back yesterday, and I’ve immediately come here. Clearly a mistake. All right, fine. I’m going.”He turned. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches ended up so overfilled they had the shape of an apple turnover, and would squirt their contents with the first bite. She could serve herself a bowl of cereal effortlessly, but I didn’t consider that a skill.I cherished her weaknesses like a miser his money. Her musical talent was so overwhelming, so impressive, I loved experimenting to discover her shortcomings. They rounded out her character, made her human; more like me.Flattening the veal, timing the smack of. Sometimes Mark would come over, but mostly it was the three of us hanging out, doing homework, or watching TV until Mom and Dad came home each night.On Friday, I was having lunch with Bethany when she got quiet for a while. I wasn’t feeling talkative, so I just ate in silence.“Steph,” she said at last. “Would it be okay if I stayed over tonight?”I studied her while I finished chewing. “So you can hook up with Joe?” She wouldn’t meet my eyes, but shook her head no. “Then why?”Her eyes shimmered. I had gotten used to sleeping naked this last week. Bryce would often come visit me in the morning before he left to go to work. Luckily, he took this weekend off, so we could have the whole house to ourselves. I sat up, and gave him another kiss before getting out of bed. I left the room, walking downstairs to the kitchen. Bryce followed close behind me, pulling his strong arms around my slim waist as I looked in the fridge. He nibbled on my ear lightly as I pulled out the milk to make some.