My best friend Stephanie has been my best friend since college. We met the beginning of sophomore year when I was sitting in Campus Ministry one evening and Stephanie came in to study. We ended up talking more than studying. Stephanie mentioned a family cottage in Michigan and ended up inviting me to go up with her for Labor Day weekend. We studied in a rowboat anchored on the lake. I got a horrible sunburn. We walked the beach with her grandmother. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Thirty-five years later, Stephanie has never not been my best friend. I can only recall two disagreements we had where I was genuinely angry, but the idea of Stephanie and me not being friends has never been an option. I can’t imagine anything she would do that would make me cut her out of my life, and I can’t imagine my life without her in it.

She is Corinne’s godmother, has vacationed with us several times (with future vacations in the works), and is the first person I call or text if I really need to talk about something. Even Dennis appreciated our friendship to the point where I would suggest a gift for her, and his response was, “Anything for Aunty Stephers.” She’s family.

Suffice it to say, after 35 years, there are few topics that are off limits for us. I’d say that Stephanie and I know each other maybe even better than Dennis and I knew each other. We were friends from our late teens, when we were very different people, and have seen one another through a lot of ups and downs.

When her grandmother passed away while we were in college, I was working security, and Stephanie came looking for me. When I was having a rough moment with a house full of people after Dennis passed away, I closed myself in the office and told Corinne that Stephanie was the only person allowed in the room. When my mom passed away in March, Stephanie was the first person I called after my siblings.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m an introvert, so my close friend circle is pretty small to begin with. Stephanie is definitely at the center.

Making new friends as an adult has not been something that I’ve ever worried about. I’ve made some great ones, don’t get me wrong. I have an amazing core of neighbors who became friends and friends I’ve met through Corinne’s school friends. They have all seen us through some really tough times, and we’ve celebrated some awesome times. We have shared a lot of personal stories. That said, no one can surpass Stephanie in terms of what they know about me. I don’t have a desire to share all the old stories and experiences again, and quite frankly, there isn’t enough time. 😏

When you start a friendship, just like when you start a romantic relationship, you kind of have to take a leap of faith. You don’t really know the other person, and they don’t know you. Stephanie and my other core friends were worth the leap, but I have let go of some others who showed me that they were not.

There’s a book by Thomas Christopher Greene that plays on the idea that sometimes the people we know may not be who we think they are. This one should be on your must-read list.

Book Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for The Perfect Liar by Thomas Christopher Greene

278 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: January 15, 2019
I originally received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press.

Publisher’s Description

Susannah, a young widow and single mother, has remarried well: to Max, a charismatic artist and popular speaker whose career took her and her 15-year-old son out of New York City and to a quiet Vermont university town. Strong-willed and attractive, Susannah expects that her life is perfectly in place again. Then one quiet morning she finds a note on her door: I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Max dismisses the note as a prank. But days after a neighborhood couple comes to dinner, the husband mysteriously dies in a tragic accident while on a run with Max. Soon thereafter, a second note appears on their door: DID YOU GET AWAY WITH IT?

Both Susannah and Max are keeping secrets from the world and from each other—secrets that could destroy their family and everything they have built. Thomas Christopher Greene’s The Perfect Liar is a thrilling novel told through the alternating perspectives of Susannah and Max with a shocking climax that no one will expect, from the bestselling author of The Headmaster’s Wife.

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The Perfect Liar by Thomas Christopher Greene took me on a crazy ride I did NOT expect! Susannah is a single mother until she meets Max W, an up-and-coming artist. Several years into their marriage, Max gets a fellowship position at a university in Vermont with a teaching position and a beautiful home. One day when Susannah returns from a run, she finds a note on the front door (the first of three) saying, “I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.” This is where the roller coaster begins and we start to learn all the secrets from Susannah’s and Max’s lives.

The book takes us into the pasts of both Susannah and Max—their time before meeting as well as during their marriage. It makes you really think about the people in your life and do you REALLY know who they are. This book will surprise you, and you will be glad you picked it up. I don’t want to say anything that could remotely give anything away because you will be shocked at the conclusion.

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