your whole life had become lists.”
“Grocery lists. Medication lists. Things I needed in college. Things Dad needed for treatment. People’s birthdays. Appointments.”
He rubbed his face.
“He said he couldn’t remember the last time he’d asked what you wanted without already giving you choices.”
“He said he couldn’t remember the last time he’d asked what you wanted.”
My chair scraped backward as I stood.
“Your father was dying. He didn’t need to spend his last months inventing reasons to feel guilty.”
Daniel stood too.
“He wasn’t asking me to make him feel better.”
“Then what did he want?”
“He wasn’t asking me to make him feel better.”
Daniel went silent.
There it was again.
The silence that had swallowed four months of my son’s life.
“Danny.”
“He wanted me to give you the dress after he died.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
“He wanted me to give you the dress after
