Reminders of Him

by Colleen Hoover

He smells like limes and bad decisions.

Ledger keeps us wrapped tightly together when he says, “In a matter of a few weeks, I went from hating you to liking you to wanting the world for you, so forgive me if those feelings sometimes overlap.”

Whatever happens, I’ll always be grateful to him for the forgiveness he gave me, whether I get it from anyone else or not. I turn around and face him; then I lift my hand and touch his cheek. “I would have fallen for you even if you didn’t love Diem.” His expression shifts, and then he kisses the inside of my palm. “I fell for you because of how much you do.” Dammit, Ledger. I kiss him for that.

Maybe it doesn’t matter whether something is a coincidence or a sign. Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can. And in the off chance that the people we lose are still somehow able to hear us, maybe we should never stop talking to them.