I tightened my grip around the phone.
Not because I was surprised.
Because I wasn’t.
“And when did you realize he was lying?”
“When I found a picture of the two of you from last Christmas. He had told me he spent the holiday alone with his mother.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
She went quiet.
Perhaps she expected me to say something.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” she continued. “I know I’m responsible too. I should have asked more questions. I should have demanded more than his words.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“When he talked about you, he never said you weren’t beautiful.”
That surprised me.
“He said you were strong.”
I said nothing.
“And I think that was exactly what made him feel small.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Then she added:
“That doesn’t excuse anything. I just don’t think he left you because you weren’t enough. I think he ran because he couldn’t handle how much you had become.”
I ended the call.
I didn’t know whether what she said was true.
Maybe Milena was simply trying to ease her own guilt.
