She smiled.
“And you were a terrible liar.”
“I’ve improved.”
“Have you?”
“No.”
She laughed and slipped the notebook into her bag.
I didn’t ask again.
Some things deserved privacy until a person was ready to share them.
Our relationship wasn’t always easy.
People stared sometimes. A few acquaintances made unkind comments about our age difference. One of Michael’s friends told Daniel that I must have pursued Karen because I wanted access to her money.
Daniel’s response was apparently, “Alex once borrowed twenty dollars from me and took three months to pay it back. If he’s after money, he’s chosen the least efficient plan in history.”
When he told us, Karen laughed so hard she nearly spilled her coffee.
Michael never approved of our relationship, but he eventually stopped trying to interfere.
He and Karen learned to communicate about practical matters without turning every conversation into a battle.
They were never friends again.
