After dinner and a couple hours of TV, Daddy passed by the couch and whispered something in my ear: I got something to show you, he said, now come here and don’t make a fuss.

Little Black boys witnessed their role in the equation and replicated it. Some would grow up and fulfill it when it was no longer a game.

Lyla was devastated by her failure to establish clear boundaries. Somehow, she’d given him the green light. She wrote about situations like these all the time; how could she let it happen to her?

It’s one thing to temporarily fall in love with anyone who is nice to you, even if you know you’ll never see them again (cheers to you, pretty girl who complimented my earrings), which, granted, I am prone to. But it’s another to spend time in an intimate sphere with someone you’re mutually attracted to – for them to leave without a trace.