Daniel
Breakups were strange. Not because they hurt. Pain made sense. What didn't make sense was everything that came afterward. The empty spaces. The habits that suddenly had nowhere to go. The moments when I would see something funny and instinctively think about sending a message, only to remember there was no reason to anymore.
Marybeth and I hadn't ended badly. In some ways, that made it harder. There was no anger to hide behind. No betrayal. No dramatic fight. Just the simple realization that her heart belonged somewhere else. And that I deserved someone whose heart was free.
At least, that was what I kept telling myself. Some days I even believed it. I was stacking boxes of bottled water into the back of a volunteer supply truck when someone cleared her throat behind me.
"You
