“I couldn’t remember being hugged like this. Like I was worth the effort. Like comforting me wasn’t an obligation the way it was with family. Like my tears weren’t an inconvenience or a childish tantrum. No one had ever embraced the parts of me I hated. The mess, the silence, the moods that came and went without warning. No one had ever looked at the disaster I was without walking away at the first opportunity. Even in the rare moments when I’d allowed someone else to see my tears, I hadn’t asked for the comfort I craved. I wanted to hide, but the truth was, I needed him right now. My body was limp against his, as if it’d already decided that this was it, this was the pillow that would soften my fall.”