If Only I Had Told Her

by Laura Nowlin

John Smith nods and takes a breath.

this name is fake

“Yes, well,” he says, and the befuddled, eager-to-please look on his face, which is almost Finny’s face, is almost breaking me.

there are other words to use besides almost btw

‘See, he’s doesn’t need you.’”

make this make sense: "see he is doesn't need you" what.

John blushes.

i despise this sentence so deeply

I find myself ordering both steak and lobster and wondering if the waitress will faint if I ask for a doggy bag at the end of the meal.

a um what now

My body needed it for the baby; that’s what it was telling me.

your body needed.. candy for the baby? say that again very slowly