Page 71 of Hello Stranger

Was it fair to say I just didn’t feel much like celebrating anything these days? I loved Sue so much, my extroverted friend. And I loved that she was trying. But what on earth about nonconsensually bringing fifty people into the vicinity of a person with sudden face-blindness felt like a good idea?

Not to mention, my mom’s birthday. But I hadn’t told Sue about that.

“You like parties!” Sue said.

“I like parties,” I corrected, “when I know the people at them. I donotlike parties full of strangers.”

“Literally no one here is a stranger,” Sue said. Then she pointed at a group of faceless guys standing around the beer coolers. “That’s Stephan,” she said, running down the line. “And that’s Colin. And that’s Ryan. And that’s Zach and André, and oh—”

“‘Oh’ what?”

“Oh,” Sue said. “It looks like Ezra showed up.”

“You invitedEzra?”

Sue coughed in indignation. “Of course not. Somebody must’ve brought him.”

Great. One of the people here was my ex-boyfriend. But I had no idea which one.

“At least you showed up with some eye candy on your arm.”

“Eye candy?” I asked. Did Joe qualify as eye candy?

“You know,” Sue said, nodding in Joe’s direction. “Your male prostitute.”

Guess so.

“I might have been wrong about that,” I said.

Sue let her gaze linger. “Maybe he should be,” she said with appreciation. “He could make a killing.”

“Sue,” I said. “Let’s focus. This is a problem.”

“What?”

“The party! The people! My ex roaming loose!”

“Why?” she said. “Everybody here loves you.”

“But I can’t recognize anyone.”

“They won’t care.”

“Theywillcare, Sue. They will think it’s super weird when they’re talking to me and I have no idea who they are.”

“Then let’s just tell them what’s going on with you.”

“NO!” I choked out.

“You don’t want to tell them?”

I leaned closer. “Never. I never want to tell anyone.”

“Why not?” Sue asked.

“It’s humiliating.”

“Why? It’s not your fault.”

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