Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

by Abby Jimenez

“Why not forgive? In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy, Justin. I

Sometimes the best way to show love or be kind to someone is to meet them where they are.”

‘Take me instead’—and the universe did. And nobody remembers the way it was supposed to be because that’s the deal. You never get to know that he’s a hero. The fates are reversed and the tribute takes the thing he asked for to save someone he loves. If you think of it that way, instead of being sad that he’s gone, be happy that he got what he wanted. And that somebody loved you enough to take your place.”

I think sometimes the key to happiness is framing those things in a different way.”

“Usually Maddy is on the island. And Mom is on the island. Everyone else is on the shore. And sometimes I wish I could go get them, but I just… can’t. I don’t have the space for them. And I know that it hurts people, but it’s just who I am. And it makes me feel like a horrible person.”

“I don’t think you’re a horrible person. I think you went through something horrible and that’s who you needed to become to get through it.”

I’d been angry for years. I was angry when Dad died, and then I slid right into being angry at Mom and angry at what was happening to my life and I just… I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t forgive it. I couldn’t understand it and I couldn’t forgive it.

“Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks. You don’t know how broken she was or what she was trying to do to fill those cracks. Being broken is not an excuse for bad behavior, you still have to make good choices and do the right thing. But it can be the reason. And sometimes understanding the reason can be what helps you heal.”

“You don’t have to forgive her. You really don’t. You can still love someone that you’ve decided not to speak to anymore. You can still wish them well and hope for the best for them. Choosing a life without them doesn’t mean you stop caring about them. It just means that you can’t allow them to harm you anymore. But if you don’t think your life would be better without them in it, then accept that they have cracks. Try to understand how they got them and help fill them with something that isn’t ice.”

“If you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy, Justin. It’s so much healthier than anger. For both of you.”

I thought about Emma’s island, the metaphorical one she’d told me about. And it made me wonder if we all have an island sometimes and maybe Mom had been on hers alone and I hadn’t known. This ate away at me now.

Maybe that’s why I was a good nurse. I had the gift of extreme empathy paired with detachment. I could deeply understand someone and anticipate their needs, but also never get close enough to them to feel it when they passed away or suffered or I moved on.

It’s funny how when you find someone you like as much as I liked her, the destination is suddenly wherever they are. Even if there’s someplace better, you wouldn’t go if they couldn’t come.

Not everything that comes out of crisis is bad. Sometimes your traumas are the reason you know how to help.

You can love someone and still not be willing to give up your way of life for them. And then there are those you love who you’d take a bullet for. It’s all the same emotion, just different levels.

How easy it was for him to acknowledge this monumental thing. To say it out loud without fear that the universe would take it from him now that it knew what he needed to live. That’s what the universe always did to me. Took away the people I loved.

“I want you to know that your empathy is beautiful, Emma. I hope you never lose that. I do hope that one day you get some boundaries though.”

“You can’t help someone unless they want to be helped,”

Being mature enough to know your limits, and adult enough to accept when someone tells you what they are.