“Then why does breaking up feel so awful?”
“Because making the right decision doesn’t always make it painless.”
I sat beside them and wrapped my arms around my daughter.
We stayed that way for a long time.
That night, Emma asked whether she had been too harsh.
I told her that she could care about Tyler’s struggles and still decide she didn’t want to date him.
She could wish him well without making herself responsible for his happiness.
And she could miss him without changing her mind.
Over the next two weeks, she did all three.
She missed their conversations. She missed the way he used to wait for her outside the classroom. She missed having somebody special to tell about her day.
Sometimes she wondered whether she should have given him another chance.
Daniel never told her she was wrong to miss Tyler.
Instead, he reminded her that caring about someone didn’t require staying in a relationship that made her feel small.
