“It’s flattering to believe that you and only you, the great lover, could have done this.” (15) The author likes to believe that they are the only one who could have gotten in the way of their girlfriends marriage as unhappy as it might have already been. This passage compares the author’s girlfriend’s marriage to an empty shell, this is how the author views their girlfriends marriage but I think that in some ways the author views themselves as a damaged shell, in the way their life seems completely focused around being with all of these women through their life and not being in any relationships that would be viewed as “typical” or “healthy” and instead being in ones that have to be hidden and the relationship itself damages another relationship that the girlfriend is already committed to.