“I’d be honored.”
He gives me a small nod and disappears into the hallway, but I swear I can still feel his heart bleeding for Allison.
She’s gone, but she is not forgotten.
***
Being shut out of his father’s memorial is rough on Dash. The idea that his father’s and his stepmother’s hatred for him would dictate the absence of a proper funeral is also hard for him to accept. But in darkness, there is always light and we decide to embrace that light. On the day of his father’s memorial, a private event, not open to the public, Dash and I hold our own celebration of his life. We sit in our bedroom seating area by the window, with the fireplace on, drinking his dad’s favorite brandy coffee, and we read his last book to each other. Dash cries that day. It’s the first time, even since his father passed, that I’ve seen him cry. It feels like progress, like he’s allowing himself to be human. It’s one step closer to him healing. And if it’s the last thing I do in this lifetime, I will see the day he forgives himself. And I will love him more than he can love himself.
THE END