“Why did you say no?” I asked her.

“Genuinely.

He’s the father of your child, he’s decent with him, it would have made your life about four hundred percent easier.”

Valerie gave me a look I have thought about many times.

“Because he lied to me for one night eleven years ago,” she said, “and he lied to you for three months so he could keep seeing my son.

Why would I look at that and think, this is a man who’s going to be honest with me at forty-five?”