You, with a View

by Jessica Joyce

“Grief is grief. You don’t have to qualify it.”

What am I supposed to do about an attraction to a man I don’t even like?

“I mean, I know the ending, but is it going to be bad?” His expression softens. “Oh, Noelle, no. It’s life. Some of it may be painful, but it’s not bad, sweetheart.

He knows I can handle what he gives me and throw it right back, and it stokes my craving, that he wants all of me, even the parts that are still broken or healing.

“It took time,” I say finally. “Healing always does,”

“Permission to psychoanalyze?”

“All our grief is different, and you faced yours in a way that you needed to, which was keeping one of the main tenets of your relationship with Gram alive. That grief never goes away, but it can grow into something that you can handle, or even grow from.

“You were hurt.” “So were you. My pain doesn’t supersede yours.”