Amy Newmark - Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Miracle of Love

Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Miracle of Love

101 Stories about Hope, Soul Mates and New Beginnings

Amy Newmark

Published by Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC www.chickensoup.com

Copyright 2018 by Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

CSS, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and its Logo and Marks are trademarks of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the many publishers and individuals who granted Chicken Soup for the Soul permission to reprint the cited material.

Front cover photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com/martinedoucet (martinedoucet)

Back cover and Interior photo of penguins courtesy of iStockphoto.com/jtstewartphoto (jtstewartphoto)

Photo of Amy Newmark courtesy of Susan Morrow at SwickPix

Cover and Interior by Daniel Zaccari

Distributed to the booktrade by Simon & Schuster. SAN: 200-2442

Publishers Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Newmark, Amy, compiler.

Title: Chicken soup for the soul : the miracle of love : 101 stories about hope, soul mates and new beginnings / [compiled by] Amy Newmark.

Other Titles: Miracle of love : 101 stories about hope, soul mates and new beginnings

Description: [Cos Cob, Connecticut] : Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, [2018]

Identifiers: ISBN 9781611599800 (print) | ISBN 9781611592801 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Love--Literary collections. | Love--Anecdotes. | Soul mates--Literary collections. | Soul mates--Anecdotes. | Dating (Social customs)--Literary collections. | Dating (Social customs)--Anecdotes. | Couples--Literary collections. | Couples--Anecdotes. | LCGFT: Anecdotes.

Classification: LCC BF575.L8 C452 2018 (print) | LCC BF575.L8 (ebook) | DDC 152.41--dc23

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938957

Changing lives one story at a time

www.chickensoup.com

There is a reason why BF stands for best friend and boyfriend, as they should be one and the same.

~Author Unknown

T he first time Adam asked me out I explained I didnt like him like that. Even worse, I asked him if we could just be friends. Every other guy who Id told lets just be friends had promptly disappeared from my life. So, you can imagine my shock when Adam took me at my word.

Adam was a tall guy with hair bleached blond by the sun. He had a goofy smile. He liked books, rugby and juggling. He was clever at making puns and graceful when he moved, whether he was walking, running, or climbing a tree. Wed known each other for a while, and I knew it had taken a lot of guts for him to tell me he liked me. I respected that courage. Ive never thought guys have it easy when it comes to romance I knew Id hate to be the one who had to ask.

But my respect only grew when he took me seriously: He actually stuck around. He became my friend.

We hung out together in groups, and that was fine. We went to a movie together, and I made my little brother sit between us so Adam wouldnt get the wrong idea. We were both guests at the same wedding. I looked at him with his suit coat off and his sleeves rolled up, and I felt wistful that there wasnt going to be any dancing. I wouldve liked to dance with Adam, I thought.

I should have known.

Once, we found ourselves on the same retreat for a university club we both belonged to. At the end of the retreat, everyone in the group helped clean out the cabin, and Adam and I volunteered to clean out a particularly filthy fridge in a small room off the kitchen. I mean, there was dark, sticky stuff clinging to the bottom shelf that had been there long enough that it might have qualified as a new life form.

It was smelly. It was gross and it was surprisingly fun.

I was beginning to notice that everything I did with Adam was surprisingly fun even stuff that really shouldnt have been. Like cleaning out disgustingly dirty fridges.

It wasnt what we were doing that I enjoyed so much. It was that I was doing it with Adam. Hes such a good friend! I thought.

I was so clueless that I started dating someone else. And even then, Adam kept being my friend.

We still hung out in the same group. We still saw each other at church and at the university, concerts and rugby games. He kept on being my friend.

I broke up with the guy I was dating that spring.

Summer came around, and one day, between work shifts, I found myself at home, complaining to my sister about boys. There arent any! I moaned. Why are there no good guys around?

My sister just looked at me.

Then she glared at me.

And then she yelled at me. JESSICA! What are you talking about? Theres ADAM.

Adam?

Yes, ADAM. He is absolutely everything youve ever said you wanted, and she named all of the requirements shed heard me talk about again and again. He is everything youve ever said you wanted. And hes just standing there. BEING YOUR FRIEND.

Now, I wasnt going to take this sitting down. I opened my mouth wide, ready to argue with her (What are sisters for except to argue with?) and nothing.

Nothing came out of my mouth. Why? Because I couldnt think of a single thing to say to her.

She was right. She was completely right, and I hadnt seen it.

I swallowed hard. Now that I saw it, what was I going to do?

In the end, what made it simple was the friendship itself. I would have felt like a jerk if I treated him with anything less than honesty.

But, oh my goodness, that was harder than it sounded.

I had no idea if he still liked me like that. It had been almost a year since hed said anything romantic to me, and I knew peoples feelings changed. After all, mine had.

But he was my friend, and I wasnt going to lie to him. I wasnt going to hide this from him.

So I asked him if we could have lunch together. I went to that lunch, and I couldnt eat a thing. My stomach was in knots. What would he say when I told him? What even were the right words to use?

The truth. This was my friend. I could tell him the truth. I knew he would tell me the truth.

Even if the truth was that he no longer liked me like that.

Adam, I said, Ive realized recently that, well I took a breath. He was looking at me so seriously. Adam, I said, Ive realized that every time I see you Im really, really glad to see you.

I winced. That was the best I could do? Seriously? Was it enough? Did he understand what I was saying?

Slowly, he began to smile.

And then his smile got so big that it was hard to see anything else but the smile on his face and the way his eyes suddenly lit up like he was a kid on Christmas morning.

Well, he said. Well. Im very glad to hear that.

That turned out to be an understatement.