Summary

Story 3 is titled "It’s Not You." Set in 1993, the unnamed, first-person narrator checks into a hotel after a breakup. All she has with her are a “change of clothing, a cosmetic bag, a bottle of Jim Beam, a plastic sack of Granny Smith apples” (49-50). The woman intends to stay one night. She watches television until the broadcast concludes and gets drunk. The next morning, while in the breakfast room of the hotel, the woman starts up a conversation with Dr. Benjamin, a radio show host. She explains that she is staying in the hotel as a treat to herself, and Dr. Benjamin invites the woman to join him.

The woman has listened to enough of Dr. Benjamin’s shows to know he “practice[s] compassion” (55), even if she listens to the show because...