Last Call at the Local (Love, Lists & Fancy Ships, #3)

by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

And to you, dear reader. You deserve every good thing, even when you’re having dark thoughts. You deserve to be happy, even when you aren’t well. And love—you deserve that too.

I say, trying to play it cool when, really, I’m melting more than a protein bar that’s worked its way to the bottom of my backpack.

It can be a challenge for me to give anyone my full and undivided attention. It’s not personal. My brain is just a shitty computer. The browser is perpetually frozen on a tab for music. The error message This webpage is using significant memory is ever present. No matter what I do, thoughts of music are as persistent as pop-up ads.

Who cares if it’s easier? Just because something’s hard doesn’t mean it’s better.” “That’s what she said.” As soon as I realize I’ve said it, I contemplate fleeing down some side street and disappearing into the night, never to be seen again. I’m emotionally exhausted, and a little buzzed, and the modicum of impulse control I sometimes have has fled the scene of the crime.