“Does it bother you that I haven’t said it?” I ask, as you lie with your head on my chest. “Said what?” Your face turns up to look at me. “You know. The three special words.” You lift yourself off me. “Oh. I didn’t say ‘I love you’ because I wanted you to say it back.” “You didn’t?” “No. It kind of bothers me that ‘I love you’ is treated like the destination in a relationship. I told you because that’s how I feel and I wanted you to know.”
