I Was Still a Virgin at 26, and Dad Always Warned Me, “Stop Sitting on Grandpa’s Lap and Be Careful Around Him.” I Never Listened… Until Grandpa Came to Me One Night and Asked, “Will You Sleep Beside Me Tonight?”

We had never done it.

“I’ve been waiting twenty years,” he said.

That night Dad stayed too.

He took the sofa in the next room while Grandpa and I lay on separate beds beside the window.

Around two in the morning, Grandpa whispered:

“Emily?”

“Yeah?”

“Still awake?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

A few minutes later, the first streak of light crossed the sky.

Then another.

Then dozens.

I ran to the telescope.

“Grandpa! Come look!”

But when I turned around, he wasn’t watching the sky.

He was watching me.

“What?”

He smiled.

“Nothing. I just wanted to remember your face tonight.”

My throat tightened.

Around three-thirty, I asked him the question I had been afraid to ask.

“Are you scared about tomorrow?”

For once, Grandpa didn’t pretend to be brave.