“I’m not sure how long I’ll stay, to be honest,” I say, sitting down on the armrest of the couch.

“What the hell, Liz. Are you being serious?” I’ve caught him by surprise.

“I was never planning to move here. You know? I’ve just been through a lot. I need to get my life back on track at some point.” Ah, god, tears already. My hormones are making everything a nightmare. Horribly, G rolls his eyes.

“You know, you can’t keep playing the victim forever, Liz. You need to grow up. Everyone goes through hard things, okay?”

I’m stunned by his vitriol. The moment I hint at the fact that I might leave, he starts acting like a cornered animal.

“Thanks a lot, G,” I finally whisper. He looks regretful but says nothing. I stand to leave.

“Where are you going?” he asks, reaching up to take my arm and gently pull me back down next to him. “I thought you had something to tell me, or was that it? That you’re leaving too.”

I sit for a long moment as the options reel through my brain. Tell him, don’t tell him. Stay. Go.

“Why didn’t you ever mention that you have kids?”

He’s taken aback, and for a moment, I think he’s going to deny it.

“Because it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Tell him, I think, knowing I’m chickening out.

“Okay, but it’s a big thing to leave out, you know?”

“It’s not like I keep it a secret,” he says. “But we’ve talked about this. I have to maintain a certain image for the studio.”

“Were you married?”

He looks at me, annoyed, as though it’s none of my business.

“For a while. She wanted children, and I thought giving them to her could make it work. It did not. The whole thing was a mistake. I’m not cut out to be a father, I should have known better.”

“We saw you in Colonia. We were on a visa run,” I say at last. “I’ve been wanting to ask you about it. You looked really sweet with them.”

“Well, yes, I love them of course. And don’t start thinking whatever it is you’re thinking about me. I take care of them, I send them money every month. It straps me. Why do you think I live in that tiny flat?”

“But you wouldn’t want . . . I mean you don’t want to get married again or . . . ?”

He looks at me strangely. And then his face softens. “Oh, Tiger. You know I think you’re an amazing woman but . . . I can’t . . .”

He thinks I am asking him something I’m not, and yet he’s answered my question all the same. I need to leave before I burst into tears. There is no good outcome to be found here.