Page 69 of I Wish I Would've Chosen You

9

GENEVIEVE

What’s left of the spring semester saunters by in a somber blur, with senior events and celebrations that I don’t care to cherish.

On Honors Day, when Principal Peterson announces me as the valedictorian and presents me with a custom plaque, I burst into tears.

Without Liam, there’s no one I care to celebrate the news with, no one to call.

I spend every free moment searching for any man with the last name “Donovan.” I focus my search on New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and then I desperately expand to every city he’s ever mentioned.

None of the men I find belong to me, though; they never grant clues that lead someplace promising either.

By summer, my heart still clings to the hope that Liam will return someday, that he has a perfect explanation for what’s happened. It’s convinced me that we’ll pick up our pens where we left off and co-write the rest of our story.

Probably by this fall.

He’ll definitely reach out to me by then…

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Four Years Later

LESSON #5

“If you love someone, let [them] go. If they come back to you, that’s how you know they’re yours…”

If you love someone, why would ever consider letting [them] go?

Love isn’t some type of test they need to pass.

On the other hand, if they leave you, just let them leave and never forget how they made you feel.

That way, whenever they show up again, you’re ready to slam the door in their face.

1

GENEVIEVE

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Ionce heard someone say, “The best cure for a broken heart is distance and time.” That somehow, the longer you spend away from your lost love, the more minutes will wash away the memories, cleansing your mind of all the days you spent together.

But after all this time, Liam still visits me in my dreams. His kisses linger on my lips, and my heart is still shattered in all the same places. No seconds or sutures have shown up to soothe my pain.

And yet, today, I’m determined to finally let him go.

Opening my phone, I finally delete our message thread and every picture we took together.

Even though I know his number by heart, I erase it and vow never to save it again.

After crying my eyes out one last time in the shower, I rush to the library and find the hot, young state prosecutor who keeps asking me out for coffee.

Instead of saying, “I’m not ready to date again,” I ask him when he wants to pick me up for dinner.

2

GENEVIEVE

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