“Do not finish that sentence with ‘complicated,’” Sophie cuts her off. “It isn’t. You love him and he loves you. You’re both just too stubborn to admit it to each other.”
I love this Sophie. And I love how this conversation differs from the one between Kate and Mary in the show.
I think when Kate forces out, “He does not love me,” there’s a tiny part of her that’s waiting to be contradicted. It’s important that the conversation ends with Soph insisting “You love him and he loves you.” It matters that she says it so resolutely, if only to lend Kate a little strength. Words have a way of tricking our minds. As absurd as it may seem, it feels different to hear someone else say what we cannot bring ourselves to believe.
I think I’ve realized that’s part of why I’m reading your story. I know these are fictional characters, whom I could also re-imagine in my own head. But I’m still here following your story almost as a weekly ritual by now. Because there is comfort in hearing someone else speak what is already in our hearts, and there is kindness in speaking those words for someone who cannot yet say them for themselves.
Sophie used Socratic method to ask follow-up questions and help Kate uncover what she believes and wants.
And in the end she asked if Kate’s happy. Because that’s how one treats a person they cherish.
Sophie really is a sophist and a true friend.
We played a lot with this scene (@bees-bangles-banter can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Chapter 16 might have actually taken us the longest to draft despite it being our shortest chapter?). It was just really important that we get the tone of it right.
Sophie has been a sort of mirror for Kate this whole story. Kate got her opportunity to tell Sophie that whatever she had with Benedict was likely more than Sophie was letting on. And Sophie's question to Kate - “Are you happy?” she asks softly. The familiar words shoot straight through Kate. “Can you keep living with just bits and pieces of him and be content with that?”
Is nearly exactly what Kate asks Sophie in Chapter 9:
Kate just holds her tighter. “Okay,” Kate says when Sophie straightens. “I have one more question, and if the answer is yes, then I will drop it, and never question this arrangement ever again. But you have to answer it honestly.”
Sophie nods in agreement.
“Are you happy?” Kate exhales. “Can you keep living with just bits and pieces of him and be content with that?”
“Two years ago I could,” Sophie admits.
“That wasn’t my question.”
Sophie sighs and reaches for her glass taking a long sip.
The moment stretches between them a second longer before Sophie meets Kate’s eyes and simply says, “No. I can’t.”
But, it's always often easier to see the truth in others than it is in yourself. Especially when the truth is scary.
One thing I kept going back to as we wrote this conflict was an idea that Abby Jimenez explores in her latest book The Night We Met. It's this idea that a person will gravitate toward what they know even if it hurts them because the unknown feels riskier. I'm probably going to butcher this because I don't have the book handy, but in the illustration she uses, I believe she talks about a person who's escaping a building will often time go back through the same door they entered through even if there's a clearer, safer exit marked.
I think Kate can relate to that here. She spent five years thinking Anthony was cold, only cared about the bottom dollar, that he didn't have any interest in who she was as person or in whether her business succeeded. Then she enters into a fake dating contract, and slowly starts to see the real him over three months. But when crisis hits, she tries to exit through the familiar door so to say and she slips right back into that thinking she spent 5 years living in.
Sorry I rambled 😂. I love talking about these characters and I love that others are catching onto their quirks and spending time with them in this world Bees and I created.
Thank you so much for this beautiful ask and for your kind words. You made our day. 🩵
titsay
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
