*Painting by Cris Motta She had me pegged from the start, but I told her I was broken anyway to try to warn her off. I told her I didn’t think I could be fixed, that the best parts of me were missing and in a far off place and she’d never be able to find them. It didn’t work. She demurred, as she always did in the future when presented with the possibility we may not last, and with a pretty smile she told me I should get used to someone caring, someone looking for those pieces. I gave up trying to push her away – it was easy to do with someone so persistently optimistic and caring, and it was a new…