Once you know they’re lying, living with a liar is an exercise in managing your own face. Every dinner, every ordinary exchange became a small performance—mine as much as his. I could not afford a crack. The moment Gary suspected I knew, the variables would shift unpredictably. And Gary, I now understood, was very good with variables.
Yvonne messaged me four days later. He called. Wants a meeting next week. On restructuring the engagement. I read it in the bathroom with the door locked and the tap running—a habit I had picked up unintentionally. I replied: Take notes. Record if you can. Tell him nothing has changed. Three dots appeared, then: Understood. She was learning my language.