I tried to brush it off, to hide behind the lazy shield of “I was only joking,” but the damage was already done. Her body, the one she lets me see without defenses, had just been turned into a punchline by the one person meant to protect it. That look she gave me wasn’t anger; it was hurt, and somehow that was worse.
Later, when the sting had dulled, I apologized for real—no excuses, no sarcasm, just the truth. I told her she is the one person I should never embarrass to get a cheap laugh. She didn’t need flattery; she needed to know I was on her side. We pulled the curtains together that night, not to hide her from the neighbors, but to remind ourselves that some things—like trust, like tenderness—are never a joke