Listen for the Lie

by Amy Tintera

“It’s so weird how you always say that. People your age are usually so proud of being busy. One of the girls from church has told me at least a hundred times about how busy she is. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a cry for help.”

An insult doesn’t have the intended impact when spelled incorrectly.

The heat’s relentless this time of year. It was a real dick move on Grandma’s part to be born in August.

Dad’s so good at that Texas thing where you act polite to people’s face and then talk shit behind their back.

There’s only one way iced tea is made, in her opinion—sweet enough to leave a nice coating of sugar at the bottom of the glass. (She is correct.)

The fake-friendly “pretend everything is fine even though I hate your guts” thing that Texans do didn’t apply to me last time I was here. But maybe five years is too long to keep up that level of hostility. Texans are nothing if not polite (to your face).

She wasn’t interested in making other people comfortable, which I really liked about her. Not a common trait in a woman.

My story is still being filtered through him. I wonder whether he realizes that. Savvy’s story is being filtered through him. Through everyone he’s interviewed who has sanded off the edges of the real girl to present the world with a perfect victim.

I was supposed to get married and stay married, so my husband could protect me. I needed to be transferred straight from father to husband, or something terrible might happen to me.”

And people hate that quality in a young woman, don’t they? They don’t know what to do with a girl who isn’t looking for their approval. They feel like they have to bring her down a peg.

He was so charming, in that way that’s always felt suspicious to me.

Some men, they’ve got to put on a show when they’re around women. It’s like they don’t actually know how to talk to us, so they choose over-the-top chivalry.

In the end, life is just sweatpants and children who resent you and all your choices. But no one wants to hear that.

“Better to be interesting than likable, in my opinion.”

Mom is, as always, dedicated to protecting the men in her life above all else.

I’ve never liked men who speak badly of their exes. It usually feels a bit misogynistic to me.

When a man lashes out, people say he’s lost control of his temper or made a terrible mistake. When a woman does it, she’s a psychopath.

Typical. Men always believe each other.

I could explain all day and these people will never believe me. Most of us don’t change our minds once we’ve settled on a version of events.

I am not responsible for the fake version of me you created in your head.