Jim found himself sitting in his car, only marginally sure of how he'd gotten there.  He felt like an automaton as he turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.   Karen's words echoed in the hollow chamber of his ears.

"I love you."

"I want you to be happy" 

The words twisted and wrapped around each other until they lost all meaning.   " EyeLuh ffyooo.  Iwan tewe toobeehah Pee"  it made no sense.  Karen's voice seemed to echo around him, curling into shapes he'd heard before.

"We're friends, right?"

No wait.  Karen had never said that.   It was Karen who had said.....

Oh, God.  She did say it.

But, so did............

A blast from the horn of a muffler-impaired pickup truck snapped Jim's head up to stare at the traffic light above him, shining green down onto his dashboard, where his clicking turn signal pointed left towards Karen's apartment.

Moving as if in a dream, he put his car in first, and drove.  He turned right.