By Any Other Name

by Lauren Kate

“She said she wanted me to find someone I really, really loved. But she didn’t say how. Or when. I just can’t figure out if I’m going about it—my life—in the right way.” “If I could solve the mystery for you, I would,” she said, patting my cheek, “but then, what the hell would the fun of life be?”

The routines we’ve fallen into sometimes make me feel restless and claustrophobic, like a windup toy stuck in a corner.

no one person can fulfill every single one of another person’s needs. Which is why book clubs and grandmothers exist.

Before I can groan, Ryan fills my hands with his. They’re warm and familiar. I squeeze them, wanting to fold myself inside him. But something holds me back. It’s this feeling that if I fold myself inside Ryan, I might get lost. Irretrievably.

And though he’d never admit to having a list of his own, I’m not the woman he wants to spend his life with, either. More important, I don’t want to become her.

“Cease and desist, I beg you both,” I say. “I haven’t been single a full day yet. Can I get a grace period before I’m thrust back into the meat market?”

“If faith in love were a source of energy, you could power a small planet.”