Periodically Luz would agree with me that keeping our phones open to each other was the right thing to do to endear trust. It never lasted long and now I know why. At one point when she was agreeing, I saw a message on her phone. This was from a very old "friend" of hers. This was a guy who out of the blue called and asked if she wanted to go on a vacation with him. I thought at the time, that seems very familiar and forward to be asking just a friend to go sit on a beach together. I asked her about it and she assured me that they had just been friends—that nothing had ever happened between them. This guy was her high school volleyball coach. He had been instrumental in getting her into Cameron State with a full ride.
"I love you," he wrote. "I love you, too," she responded. This was the essential part of the message between them I read. I brought it up to her and like a fool again (god I can't believe myself) I accepted or convinced myself of her reason that, "it was just love like brother love. I love him like a brother."
And again, like the moron I am, I convinced myself and stayed.