“Dave and I aren’t together anymore,” I say, focusing on his buttons.

“I just want you to be happy, Chloe,” he says, and, again, I feel my heart start to crumble into tiny little pieces.

“I am happy, Dad,” I say quietly.

“Dave’s the guy for you,” Dad says. “I can tell.”

“You think?” I ask, buttoning the last button.

Dad waves a hand. “You can always tell. Like with your mother, I knew things weren’t right from the beginning.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You did?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He shrugs. “You wanna be with somebody you can’t stop thinking about. Somebody who takes care of you, even when you’re being a real asshole. Somebody who makes sure you know that you’re the only person they want.”

Nick’s words, I don’t want anybody else. I only want you, play in my mind but I push them away.

“A person shouldn’t make you feel like they always have one foot out the door,” Dad says. “That’s how your mother always is.”

“Was,” I mutter. I’ve always avoided talking about Mom with Dad, worried it would upset him too much, but he’s talking about her with less emotion than he uses to discuss characters on TV.

“But you and Dave, I can tell you have something good.”

I’m not sure who Dad is talking about—actual, spiky-haired Dave from high school or Nick—but this feels so much like a real father-daughter talk that I just go with it. “Yeah?”

Dad nods. “The way you two looked at each other—you’d have to be an idiot not to tell.”

“Dad,” I say gently. “I don’t think things with Dave are going to work out. I have a lot going on right now and it’s not really the right time for me.”

Dad snorts and waves me off. “It’s never the right time. But when you’re in love with someone, what can you do? Let me give you some advice, Chloe: life can really put you through the shitter. If it tosses something good your way once in a while, don’t think twice about grabbing it.”

I frown, my heartbeat quickening.

He looks me straight in the eyes then, his own eyes clear and full of conviction, seeming so much like the Dad I used to watch sitcoms with in our living room. “Not everyone’s your mother, sweetheart. Not everyone’s gonna leave you.”

My heart is now pounding so loud that I can feel it all over my body, a thump-thump-thump in my fingers and toes. Was that what I was really afraid of with Nick? Is this like what Annie said, that I’m afraid no one will want me if I’m not helping them? Was I just afraid that he would leave me once he got to know the real me, the me who isn’t cheerful and confident one hundred percent of the time?

I knew I liked Nick. I knew I cared about him. I knew I missed him when he wasn’t around, thought about him all day, wanted to share everything that happened with him. I knew he was the first person I thought about in the morning and the last person I thought about at night. I knew that I wanted to spend every second of my life in his arms. And what is that if not bone-deep, soul-swallowing, mind-blowing love?