Excerpt:
“Lise, I’m cold.”
“It’s the fever, you idiot.”
“I know it’s the fever—I’m a doctor, remember?”
“Precisely. You’re a doctor and still manage to say the stupidest things.”
Lise looked stern, her voice edged with irritation, her gaze drifting away like someone trying to escape this reality for someplace far off. Her fair, lightly sun-tanned skin contrasted with her straight black hair, which fluttered faintly in the breeze slipping through the window. Her brown eyes turned honey-colored beneath the languid light of the setting sun. A scatter of small moles on her nose, cheek, and chin formed a distinct little triangle. Her short nose ended in a rounded tip. Her mascaraed lashes—an attempt to give them more volume—felt slightly at odds with her thin, furrowed brows. Perhaps her bad mood made sense; this was no way to spend a honeymoon.
“Lise.”
“What?!”
“Why does love fade in relationships?”
Lise let out a sigh—half groan, half weary exhalation.
“You’ve asked yourself that question a million times. You’ve asked others—men and women alike—and the answer is the same every time.”
She leaned in closer to his face.
“There’s no such thing as love. People come together out of lust and need. Human relationships are transactional by nature; everyone wants something from everyone else. Once the goal is achieved, there’s no reason to keep up the charade.”
“Even ours?”
“Pffft! Especially ours. Don’t you remember? She told you to your face before she left.”
“That’s true, but…”
“No ‘but.’ It’s the fever talking—you’re hallucinating, that’s all. I’m not here, and this isn’t a hotel...
..."
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