Listen to how someone describes their old friends. You’re hearing a preview of your own chapter.

How someone talks about people who are no longer around tells you what they do with endings. Warmth about a friend they lost touch with is a good sign. A long list of everyone who let them down, with no version of the story where they played any part at all, is usually a pattern rather than bad luck.

Listen for this early, not as a test but as information. Ask what happened with a friendship that faded and see whether the account has any complexity in it. One day you will be described too.