Chapter 40

He tried to tell himself it was all right, that you can’t be humiliated if you refuse delivery of said slight, but whom was he kidding? He was more than mortified. He was heartsick, plagued by palpitations, dangerously low blood pressure, nausea, dizziness, loss of appetite, and exhaustion. Before, he hadn’t thought it possible to die of a broken heart, to be mad for love. People died from disease, accidents, war, and other acts of violence or something that rocked their core identity and, so, forced their hand. Lovesickness was the stuff of opera and movies. But now that he saw it in reality, he felt like a fool, a stupid, little fool, and the thought that he had brought it all on himself—that he had cost himself the one thing, the one person, he had wanted most—well, that was more than he could bear.