Real photographs.
People laughing.
Looking away.
Catching each other between poses.
Eleanor attended and made a perfectly appropriate speech without saying anything that felt affectionate.
Chloe sent flowers but did not come.
Howard gave a speech about family and legacy while watching me as if he were still evaluating something.
Afterward, Terrence and I moved into the Washington estate.
His mother had been living alone since his father died, and Terrence wanted to remain nearby.
He promised it would be temporary.
We talked about buying a place somewhere quieter.
Land.
Maybe a barn.
A garden.
We never got there.
Three years of marriage.
Four days in the hospital.
Then 4:47 in the morning.
Eleanor came to the hospital the day Terrence died.
She was already dressed in black.
She walked straight past me into his room.
