Everything between us had felt real. His outrage on my behalf. His attempts to give me something bright in the bleak grey of my existence. His kindness when I’d been so lost. Truth be told, I’d known those things were real. Always. But I’d been in denial, drowning myself in it. Because if that was all real—if what he’d told me was true… Well, I’d had something precious and beautiful, hadn’t I? And I’d lost it.
