When being there costs something

“Your partner has been dealing with a difficult situation with their family — nothing catastrophic, but ongoing and draining — and for the past few weeks you've been their main sounding board. Tonight you're at a work happy hour, the first social thing you've done for yourself in a while, and it's actually good — you're laughing, you feel like yourself. Then your phone lights up: it's them, wanting to debrief a phone call they just had with their mom. You look at the message and feel two things at once.”