Morningside Cuesta different now; better than

It was hard to keep going when Dawn was so clearly disturbed, but there was so much more to that story, and Day knew the questions would never end if he stopped to indulge her then. So he pressed on, and at the end, it seemed as though she had more pressing questions to ask.

"I think that, by the end, she had a lot of reasons to leave," he said carefully, not wanting to lie, but also not ready to reveal all that had gone on between them. He'd tried hard to make this a story about good and bad love, and thought that, for now, the nature of his and Adeline's relationship was best simplified to that. But, that wasn't the hardest question that Dawn had for him. Of course not.

He paused for a moment to consider the question, having never asked it of himself. Would he ever love like that again? Certainly not like that. He'd never love anyone the way he loved Adeline. He didn't want to. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he couldn't be sure. Even with as much as he'd learned, even with how far he'd come... he would never be certain.

"I think I could," he admitted, keeping his voice calm and gentle. "But it'll never be like it was with her. Dawn, whenever you love someone, you run the risk of hurting them - just like Sunny hurt us. It wasn't necessarily because of bad love... but hurt and turn into bad love, like it did with me and Adeline. And when that happens, we have to take the time to fix it - the first time it happens. You can't bottle it up, or pretend it never happened."

He smiled at her, weak but true. "But that doesn't mean you stop loving them, either. You always have to love, and love, and try harder to love. And sometimes, like with me and Addie, that means letting the other person go. Sometimes it means backing off and letting yourself heal, so that you can love better later on. And sometimes it just means holding on, and being patient - and it always means forgiving."