Chapter 11

“You never answered my question, really. Wereyou really in love with me? I need to know. It wasn’t all—”

“We had fun together at first, and I guess, in a way, I grew fond of you.”

“Fond? You’re fond of me. Is that all you can say?”

He looked into his glass as if there was something in it that foretold the future.

“People love in their own way. I guess I can say I loved you more than any other guy. Does that help?”

I shook my head. “Not in the least.”

“Trivia time, Harry. I’ve a movie in mind. All about the fallacy of romantic love, the deceptive nature of appearances. Give up?”

Alec was on a roll, and he couldn’t be stopped. “Hitchcock’s stupid goddamned Vertigo. You missed the point entirely on that one. How I hated watching that old chestnut with you. Over and over.”

“That was our movie. It was—”

“Special? You thought I was falling for all that romantic baloney? Well, guess again. I was playing a role.”

“You and I, it was all an illusion?”