I looked down at his outstretched hand, and I did not take it, and I did not slap it away either.

I only looked at it, resting there on the table between us, until he understood that it was not going to be taken, and drew it back.

“You loved having access,” I said, “to what belonged to me.

That is a real thing, and I don’t doubt you felt it strongly.

But it isn’t love, Flynn.

It only rhymes with it.”