Relationship between the narrator and Tom

The short story “Beautiful Things” by Kate Vine focuses on the relationship between the narrator and Tom. 

The narrator used to believe that she and Tom knew everything about each other “I didn’t used to wonder. I thought, between us, we knew it all” (l. 123). However, when Tom tells her that he has developed feelings for a co-worker, the narrator realizes that this is not true and that she does not know him as well as she thought she did. 

After Tom’s revelation, the relationship between the two grows distant both physically and emotionally: “That night I do not rest my head on his chest. I’m scared he will smell differently” (l. 72). For the narrator, the change is mirrored in the new house they visit: “I nod and head to the kitchen. This one is square, a round table at ...