I’m sorry, Dean says.

Today, nearly Christmastime, Dean is here in my Windy City for a quick business trip. I sit on his bed with my coat still on at the Palmer House, that Old Chicago hotel best known as a parting gift on “Let’s Make Deal,” and we both know it is that most dreadful time—time for the relationship talk.

Essayist Julianne Hill weighs the importance of keepsakes as a salve for heartbreak.

Publication: Great Lakes Review

Date: December 30, 2014