{"id":11010,"date":"2025-09-06T13:52:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T13:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=11010"},"modified":"2025-09-06T13:54:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T13:54:06","slug":"11010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=11010","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a performance, but I was so starved for connection that I accepted it gratefully.<\/p>\n

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The room they\u2019d prepared for me was a masterpiece of thoughtful detail. Soft blankets, a framed photo of us from long ago, even a small shelf stocked with my favorite poetry. It felt like they had remembered me, the real me. That night at dinner, they flanked me, a united front of sudden, suffocating attention. Lyanna poured my chamomile tea before I could reach for it. Darren cut my salmon into neat bites, as if I were a fragile doll. It was sweet, but unsettling. I wasn\u2019t used to being tended to, certainly not by them. They asked about my bookstore, the literacy center where I volunteered, all the small, quiet parts of my life they had shown no interest in for years.<\/p>\n

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It was a performance, but I was so starved for connection that I accepted it gratefully. The room they\u2019d prepared for me was a masterpiece of thoughtful detail. Soft blankets, a framed photo of us from long ago, even a small shelf stocked with my favorite poetry. It felt like they had remembered me, the…<\/p>\n

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