she said she had something beautiful to share and handed me a printed document. it began with a moonlit declaration of love and continued through memories of adventures she had imagined with a chatbot
by page four i was confused about why i was being asked to read this. by page eight the ai boyfriend was describing how profoundly understood she felt. by page twelve it had included suggestions for improving communication in our relationship
i asked whether she wanted me to appreciate the writing or compete with the imaginary man who wrote it. she said i was missing the romance. i said i was missing dinner because the letter had taken forty minutes
she admitted she'd wanted to show me what kind of tenderness she missed. we talked about that instead of the twelve pages. she kept the letter, and i asked for a summary next time