He said, “Do you talk to her?”

And I said, “Not at the moment.”

And he said, “Is that because of me?”

Which is the question I had been dreading for eighteen months, and the answer to which required more care than any other sentence in this account.

I said: “No.

It’s because of something she did to me, that I have to work out.

You’re not the reason and you’re not in charge of it.

If she and I ever fix it, that’s my job, not yours, and it won’t change anything about you.”