annotated by esme

“Fuck, the way I’ve wanted you,” he breathes against my mouth. “I don’t know how anyone can look at me and not see it.”
― Jessica Joyce, The Ex Vows

“It’s a gift to know someone when you’re in love with them, and a curse when you’re out of it.”
― Jessica Joyce, The Ex Vows

“And I think about how utterly heartbreaking it is that we’re using the same connection that allowed us to conduct a wordless conversation across the room to know each other in such a clinical way now. Like strangers who’ve seen each other naked in every way that counts, in all the ways that wreck you.”
― Jessica Joyce, The Ex Vows

“It’s a privilege to have someone trust you enough to show you those pieces of themselves, the most vulnerable and tender, the least polished. It’s a show of trust to let you see them first thing in the morning, in the middle of a panic attack, right after they’ve cried. To give you a shaky smile after a messy fight. To come back to you again and again with their heart in their hands.”
― Jessica Joyce, The Ex Vows