Can we talk about friendship breakups?

It can feel like a specific type of grief and anxiety. There it is, lingering: the ghost of friendship past.

One hot Summer, around seven years ago, I went to Rome for the first time with my boyfriend (now fiancé). We’d been going out for a few years; there was still an element of newness, we weren’t living together yet. We were sleeping in late, getting sunburnt noses, reading books on our balcony, eating the freshest of pasta, taking pictures, walking down r…