PS Sorry if I was being self-centered. I'm sorry that you went through something similar. It seems difficult to trust people in the first place, and then when they turn out to be just willfully untrustworthy, it can be tough to sort out. In the beginning I kept saying, "I just don't understand." Even after I figured out the narcissist thing, "I just...don't understand. Why?"

I was crying in my Ts office last week and said, "I don't understand why this happened to me," and she said but it didn't just happen to you. They are far more prevalent than most people think. I don't know if that really helped me, but it is helpful to know that they are predatory and those of us who have gone through it aren't a special breed of stupid. Like my friend said when I was sitting on a bench in Knoxville, "The only thing you're guilty of here is liking a guy and wanting him to like you back." I'd say the same for you. Only...switch the genders.