Leni stared at him, realizing now, all at once in a sweep of goose bumps, how she loved him. Not in the toxic, needy, desperate way her mother loved her father. She needed Matthew, but not to save her or complete her or reinvent her. Her love for him was the clearest, cleanest, strongest emotion she’d ever felt. It was like opening your eyes or growing up, realizing that you had it in you to love like this. Forever. For all time. Or for all the time you had.
