The phrase ‘I love you’ is often fraught with unannounced peril. One must carefully examine the context to have some hope of understanding the intention of the speaker. This is not necessarily a declaration of deep and abiding mutuality. No, it can range in meaning from ‘I am embarrassed,’ or ‘I am afraid you will see through me,’ through ‘I want to be carnal with you,’ or ‘I want you to desire me,’… it can mean the opposite of the words, or almost anything, really.

Context matters. Profoundly. If someone says these words in a context I don’t recognize as preternaturally appropriate, even slightly, alarm bells ring and I begin to carefully examine the actual message therein encoded. It sometimes has less to do with those three words than anyone might imagine.