"Listen, it just didn't occur to me. You've never really shown much interest in my previous love life, so I never brought it up."

"Your previous love life? I thought . . . I just never pictured someone like her."

"Listen. I'll tell you the whole story, but you have to relax. And just remember I love you, not her." Laurie glowed with joy, and was pretty much ready to believe anything Heather said.

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Outside in the main room . . .

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"I first met Heather when she was fifteen, though I didn't know that at the time. I was nineteen. I had come down for...