Love You More By Emily Giffin

CHAPTER 19 The following evening, I board my flight to Milwaukee with a carryon bag. The beginnings of my eulogy are handwritten on index cards tucked into my purse. I return a flight attendant’s pleasant hello and make my way down the aisle. When I reach my row, I put my bag in the overhead … Read more

CHAPTER 18 The day passes in fragments—voices, lab results, worried faces. I counsel a woman through her first ultrasound. I discuss egg retrieval schedules. I scribble notes in margins. I adjust medication doses. My hands move; my voice carries on. But I’m somewhere else entirely. Later, I catch my reflection in the bathroom mirror and … Read more

CHAPTER 17 It’s hard to believe Phoebe came into the world more than eleven years ago—and that it’s been even longer since Mick and I broke up. I dread calling him back, worried about what that conversation might stir. But as I make my way down Broadway, the morning air sharp in my lungs, I … Read more

CHAPTER 16 About a month later, Erin’s ringtone sounded in my pocket. My hands froze midchart, and my chest tightened. It was happening. I could feel it. I sped through the rest of my paperwork, then ducked into the hallway and called Erin. “Oh my God, Billie! My water broke!” she shouted into the phone. … Read more

CHAPTER 15 Erin’s pregnancy pulled us back into each other’s orbits—not as kids, teens, or young twentysomethings—but as two grown women standing on the edge of something huge. I still didn’t have much time to talk—some days I barely had time to pee—but we texted often, and I fielded her constant flood of questions. Can … Read more

CHAPTER 14 Miraculously, Lesli had matched at Columbia, too, so after graduation, we both traded our student IDs for badges that read resident physician. Being an intern carried pride but also enormous responsibility. At the bottom of the residency hierarchy, we were punching bags for everyone above us. Attendings barked orders, senior residents expected perfection, … Read more

CHAPTER 13 After the whirlwind of third-year rotations, we were given a twoweek break. I spent the first week holed up in my apartment, catching up on sleep. After that, I went back to Wisconsin for a few days, visiting friends and family. Mick crossed my mind often, but I had finally moved on—not with … Read more

CHAPTER 12 The third year of medical school—known as the Major Clinical Year —is when you stop studying medicine and start living it. We weren’t quite doctors, but we were more than just students, wearing our short white coats and rotating through eight specialties in four-to-twelve-week blocks. My first rotation was Internal Medicine—a twelve-week marathon. … Read more

CHAPTER 11 Two weeks later, I flew back to Wisconsin in a state of denial. I’d accepted the breakup at first, but as the shock wore off, a strange silence set in—a hollow space where Mick used to be. I missed him more than I’d imagined possible, and part of me believed we could still … Read more

CHAPTER 10 That first year, I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, soaking up lots of quality time with Mick. He also managed three visits— long weekends filled with love, sex, and coffee in bed. But at the end of each, standing on the curb with his arms around me, the goodbye was brutal. Summer … Read more

CHAPTER 9 That August, my dad rented a twenty-foot U-Haul, backing it into the driveway with the ease of someone who’d been maneuvering box trucks his whole life. My mom and I folded clothes into bags while Mick and my dad packed up the college furniture I’d been storing in the garage. My dad planned … Read more

CHAPTER 8 That first semester, Mick and I fell into a Madison rhythm—Babcock ice cream and pitchers of beer on the Terrace, walks on State Street, and late-night study sessions at Memorial Library. Our Saturdays revolved around the ritual of Badger football. We tailgated in a sea of red, then crammed into Camp Randall with … Read more