This is the guide: love the small collapse of his certainty. Love the way he forgets his own worth but guards yours like a match near dry grass.

The guide he left behind — scrawled in margins of dog-eared paperbacks and saved voicemails — wasn’t about seduction. It was about attention.

Rule one: Listen until the other person runs out of words, then wait ten seconds more. Rule two: Learn what breaks their heart, not just what makes them laugh. Rule three: When in doubt, show up with soup, not solutions.