One lesson short story writing has taught me (& yet one I seem to always be relearning) is that if I'm wondering whether I should cut something from a draft the answer (99% of the time) will be: yes, & you should have done it yesterday.

Counterpoint: I've also often found that when (trusted!) readers tell me to cut something that feels deeply important to the story my intuition is trying to tell me something there too.

Sometimes that element that seems "cut-able" to outsider readers *is* deeply important but I've not yet found the right way to express it or animate it, & the suggestion to cut tells me that this piece of the story needs to be re-imagined.