Maybe Next Time

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of pregnancy loss.

On December 3, 2007, Dan’s letter to Emma explains the anniversary they celebrate on this date: their first meeting on the tube. He describes how he was flustered and thrilled when she noticed him, embarrassed as he gave her his number, and thrilled when she texted. They’ve been together a year, and it was Emma’s idea for them to write each other letters. Dan describes dates they’ve shared and tells her he loves her. He says the only thing he’d criticize is how she sometimes doesn’t listen: “[I]t’s like you’re dragging yourself back from another place entirely” (8).

On Monday, December 3, 2021, at 10 o’clock at night, Dan notices that Emma hastily wrote her anniversary letter to him while pretending to use the bathroom. Last year, she forgot entirely, Dan was hurt, and she promised to do better but defensively realizes that she has let that resolution slide. Their eight-year-old son, Miles, hears them bickering, and their dog, Gus, seems ill. Dan takes Gus for a walk, and Emma sees her letter from him beside the remains of dinner, with a heart over the “a” in her name.