“I love you,” he said.

“I know you do,” I said.

And it was the truth, and it was not sufficient.

Four words from him and three from me, and that is the end of the conversation and the end of the day.

I have been asked why I did not say it back.

By his mother, eventually, through a third party, as though it were the decisive fact of the whole business.

By a cousin of his.