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First Love | The New Yorker

newyorker.com · 2,759 words · saved by 1 readers

A year and a half of dating that felt like fifty.

Save this story Save this story Illustration by Michael Gillette On August 17, 2010, I got an e-mail from Facebook notifying me that I had received a message. It was from my ex-boyfriend’s mother. Its subject heading was “Goodbye from Nancy and Bill.” Nancy and Bill are my ex-boyfriend’s parents, though I’ve changed their names (and those of everyone else here). I opened the message with great curiosity and a little terror. Why was Nancy saying goodbye? Was she finally moving to Switzerland to live near her brother and his Japanese wife? Did she have a terminal illness? The message said: Hi, L

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