I was quiet for a moment. When I scanned the opposite bleachers, the Jeremy look-alike was nowhere to be found.

“You can tell me, Alice,” she said. “Believe me, if we’re having a secret-off, you know more of mine.”

I sighed. “This is going to sound crazy, but ever since Jeremy died, I have seen him everywhere. For eighteen years, everywhere I go, some poor stranger becomes Jeremy.”

She looked at me dully. “That’s your big secret? You see your dead husband in crowds? Alice, that must be the most common thing in the world.”

“It is?”

She laughed. “Yes! It is!”

I felt a little better. “I know he’s dead. I cashed the insurance check.”

As soon as I said that, I wished I hadn’t. Wasn’t one of the rumors about me that I had killed him for the insurance money? But Charlotte said, “They don’t give out those checks unless they are damn sure you’re dead. Believe the brand-new insurance guru on that one.”

We both laughed, which was a little macabre. But you had to laugh or you’d cry.

The crowd cheered again, and I looked up to see a kick sailing through the goalposts. Merit’s friend Alex was a senior who I thought was a particularly good influence. He complained that kicker was the only position his mother would let him play because she didn’t want him to get hurt. But, funny thing, as much as he didn’t want that position, he was being recruited by top schools in both the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences. Moms can be pretty smart sometimes.

Charlotte put her arm around me. “Do you know what I think?”

I shook my head.

“I’ve always thought that those little glimpses were God winks, reminders from the other side that the people we love are still with us. I bet Jeremy is always watching over you because he wants you to be happy.”

“Is he? Or is he pissed and killing off my other husbands?”

We both laughed again, the light mood returning to the evening.

“Thank you, Charlotte,” I said. “Sometimes it does help to talk about these things.”

“I’m always here,” she said.

“I know.” It shocked me that I meant it. I loved Julie and Grace with all my heart, but they needed me in a way that Charlotte didn’t. I felt like I couldn’t confide in them because they had so much else to worry about. Charlotte had a confidence about her, even during this terrible time, that made me know she was someone who could be relied on. I think that’s why I felt I could open up to her. It was nice, after so many years of hiding so many parts of myself, to feel like I had a true friend.

I heard Julie, from the other end of the girls, yell, “Elliott! We’re over here!”