When I Should've Stayed

He may have let her slip away, but he never stopped loving her. Josie: Before the Moment There are ghosts at every corner. In the stolen kisses while I waitressed at the diner, in the town festivals at the square, in the many jokes about Betty Bagley and her pie at the Fall Farmer’s Market, and in the countless nights watching Clay make drinks with that handsome smile of his while I sat on a stool at his bar. It should all feel familiar and comforting, and yet, it just makes it hard to breathe. Tonight will be a defining moment for the rest of my life. I have to end it now…before it ends me. Clay: After the Moment When Josie and I said “I do,” I thought it’d be us against the world forever. But I wasn’t expecting the world to be so against us. I know I should’ve stayed that night. And I definitely should have gone back sooner. Because I don’t know how to be here. I don’t know how to be anywhere. I don’t know how to be without Josie at all. She’s fun and fiery and strong-willed and stands up for the people she loves—even when it borders on reckless. She’s everything good about humanity—my perfect person. She might say we’re done, but it’s not over. We’ll never be over.

He may have let her slip away, but he never stopped loving her. Josie: Before the Moment There are ghosts at every corner. In the stolen kisses while I waitressed at the diner, in the town festivals at the square, in the many jokes about Betty Bagley and her pie at the Fall Farmer’s Market, and in the countless nights watching Clay make drinks with that handsome smile of his while I sat on a stool at his bar. It should all feel familiar and comforting, and yet, it just makes it hard to breathe. Tonight will be a defining moment for the rest of my life. I have to end it now…before it ends me. Clay: After the Moment When Josie and I said “I do,” I thought it’d be us against the world forever. But I wasn’t expecting the world to be so against us. I know I should’ve stayed that night. And I definitely should have gone back sooner. Because I don’t know how to be here. I don’t know how to be anywhere. I don’t know how to be without Josie at all. She’s fun and fiery and strong-willed and stands up for the people she loves—even when it borders on reckless. She’s everything good about humanity—my perfect person. She might say we’re done, but it’s not over. We’ll never be over.