Evan Roberts

By the time he and I met, he had talked with 16 of them over the last several years.

It was nice to catch up, get their side of the story.

But the more the thing had gone on, the more he realized this whole mission was actually just about ex number 17.

Someone he referred to as the Big X. A guy named Keith, who even when Evan reached out, did not want to talk.

They'd broken up around New Year's.

It was 2010.

A couple of weeks after.

Keith had torn out the part where there should have been Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

On the opposite flap, Keith wrote a note about how he thought he and Evan should stay away from each other.

I think most people receiving a holiday card with a heartfelt sentiment surgically removed would think, message received.

I will also cut you out of my life, ex-lover.

That would be my response anyway.

I will be honest, the first time I heard about the fact that you had interviewed all of these exes, I was horrified by that.

I don't talk to any of my exes, not out of ill will or anything, but it's just like it's not a thing I've ever done.

I feel like...

The relationship we had exists very much in the time that we were together.

And so to revisit it, to me, feels like going to a past life.

I don't know the value of that, I guess, for me personally.

Just to say, Evan has been in a happy relationship with his boyfriend for over a decade.

But ever since he and Keith broke up 16 years ago, he's wondered, why the card?