The Girl with the Broken Paddle

If she had told him all the things she never will, he would put his hand under her chin, forcing her to look into his own bright brown eyes, and say, “You’re wrong. Love isn’t for the pretty, the perfect, or even just the sexy. It’s for the brave.”
And her lip would quiver, and though [...]

“Look,” she wants to tell him, “I understand. I see what you see. Every day. Every morning. Every night, as I wash away the day and check to make sure each speck of what will never happen again is really gone. I know I’m not beautiful.”
He would stop her. She knows he would. “You’re beautiful, [...]