Funny Story

by Emily Henry

I’m now old enough to have kids without anyone being scandalized by it.

I’d been so relieved when I finally fell in love with someone who actually wanted to love me back. A Relationship Guy, who craved the bond his parents had. Who liked routine, and texted back in a reasonable amount of time and shared his calendar with me.

If a person lets you down, it’s time to reconsider what you’re asking of them.

“It’s a library, Daphne. If you can’t be a human here, where can you?”

You can’t force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don’t. Trust people’s actions, not their words. Don’t love anyone who isn’t ready to love you back. Let go of the people who don’t hold on to you. Don’t wait on anyone who’s in no rush to get to you.

The moment feels like a held breath, or a soap bubble, something that can’t last, that has to break one way or another.

“If it was about you,” he says, “he could’ve ended it. Instead he blew up his life. That’s about him. I’ve been that guy, a dozen times, with a dozen people I didn’t deserve. It’s easy to be loved by the ones who’ve never seen you fuck up. The ones you’ve never had to apologize to, and who still think all your ‘quirks’ are charming.

“You make the people you care about feel like…” He pauses. “Like you want all of them. Not just the good parts. And that’s terrifying to someone who’s spent a lifetime avoiding those other pieces of themselves.”

“Honey.” She laughs. “I’m a cynic. And a cynic is a romantic who’s too scared to hope.”

“You?” she says. “You, my girl, are whoever you decide to be. But I hope you always keep some piece of that girl who sat by the window, hoping for the best. Life’s short enough without us talking ourselves out of hope and trying to dodge every bad feeling. Sometimes you have to push through the discomfort, instead of running.”

The same universe that dispassionately takes things away can bring you things you weren’t imaginative enough to dream up.