Thinking six months ahead about how to make his best friend uncomfortable.
Theo gave the dress back to Emma the next day.
She refused to take it.
She told him, “Absolutely not. It has funeral energy now.”
So he kept it.
Years have passed.
Theo is 23 now.
He graduated from college last spring.
Daniel and I went.
We sat beside his mother.
Afterward, Theo came over in his cap and gown and hugged us both.
Then he whispered, “I considered wearing red.”
Daniel said, “Don’t push your luck.”
Theo laughed.
For graduation, we gave him one of Jack’s watches.
Nothing expensive.
Just the black one Jack wore almost every day before treatment made his wrists too thin.
Theo stared at it for a long time. “I can’t take this.”
