He heard about it from Dana.
Not because Dana told him, but because Dana had mentioned to a mutual friend that I was seeing someone, and the mutual friend had mentioned it to someone else, and New York was a large city that functioned like a small one when it wanted to. Marcus called me on a Wednesday and he did not start with anger. He started with a question.
"Did you kiss him?"
I did not pretend I did not know what he meant.
"Yes," I said.
A silence. Long enough to feel like something falling.
"Okay," he said.
"Marcus—"
"No, I mean it," he said. His voice was controlled but I could hear what it was controlling. "You have every right. I know that. I'm not calling to fight."
"Then why are you calling?"
"Because I needed to hear it from you," he said. "Not from someone else. I ne
