“Then he stands up and starts to head out, the way he came. And it’s then that he says the one thing that only he would say to me. “The could-have-been boys still love you,” Owen says. He isn’t looking at me when he says it, his voice low. The way you say hello. The way you say goodbye.”

“Then he stands up and starts to head out, the way he came. And it’s then that he says the one thing that only he would say to me. “The could-have-been boys still love you,” Owen says. He isn’t looking at me when he says it, his voice low. The way you say hello. The way you say goodbye.”

— Laura Dave