“I promise I’ll try to be useful,” she says, trying to make a joke of this desperate need to assure him this will be worth it. That he isn’t making a mistake loving her. “Why are you always talking about being useful, making yourself useful? Useful, useful, useful,” he says, exhaling in amusement as the word starts sounding like nonsense with repetition. “I’ve never wanted you because you were useful, Gretchen. I want you because you’re you.”
