I glance up, spotting Winter at the edge of the dancefloor. She lifts her eyes, meeting mine, and smiles before laughing at something Keith has said.

That laugh, she’s so beautiful when she laughs. The collar of my shirt tightens, the air becoming too thick to breathe.

“I asked her why she never told me. I mean, it would have been so easy to tell me so she didn’t have to go through the trouble anymore. Her answer? Because I asked her to. That’s it.” He lifts his shoulders with a shrug. “Because I asked her to. She knew she loved me the minute she laid eyes on me. With Jolie, if she loved you, she loved you hard. Putting herself and her own needs last came easy to her. And even though I was a shithead back then, I loved her deeply. I’m thankful she found me and not some asshole who would have taken advantage of the sacrifices she made when she loved someone.”

Gary narrows his eyes on me. He’s trying to figure out what kind of man I truly am, I’m sure. Would I reap the rewards of Winter’s sacrifices selfishly or sacrifice my own needs instead.

“Like I said, Winter may as well be a carbon copy of her mother,” he continues. “Heart on her sleeve, splitting at the seams with passion, ready to love hard... I never sat down with Brian when they first started dating. For that I’ll always kick myself. I was trying to be…” His shoulders bob with a silent laugh. “Progressive. When he cheated on her, she was devastated. And when he broke up with her, she blamed herself. She spent more time than necessary wondering what she could have done differently. Took her months to get angry enough to realize it was him that didn’t deserve her.”

Gary pulls a large breath of air into his lungs, then exhales like he’s shedding skin. “But Brian was a cunt.” He laughs. “You’re not a cunt, are you, Aleck?”

A knowing smile ghosts across my face. So this is ‘the talk’ from a concerned father? I’ve never received one before because I’ve never dated anyone exclusively. I certainly didn’t expect to have one now at the ripe old age of thirty-two.

“I assure you, Gary, I have no interest in hurting Winter.”

I would rather bury myself alive.

“Good. Make sure she doesn’t show up on that stoop every day waiting for a crumb of your attention, sacrificing her own needs to do so. Because she will, Aleck. And she’ll do it without even questioning whether she should.”

With that, Gary smiles, shoots back the rest of his whiskey, stands, and walks away.

I find my girl in the crowd once more. She’s laughing, happy, swaying to the music, being Winter. And Winter in her element is a magnificent sight.

“Heart on her sleeve, splitting at the seams with passion, ready to love hard.” The words Gary spoke echo between my ears while I watch her with her friends. I want Winter in my life more than I’ve wanted anything. I crave her, I need her. But like the drugs my parents were addicted to, I know I’ve been lulled into a false sense of happiness, a false sense of deserving this euphoria.