Through the door, I heard the blare of a game show on his television. I had a key, so I let myself in. He was asleep in a recliner, his snores blowing like a trumpet. Seeing him like that, alone, gave me a shiver. Despite the six decades between us, I can always see the family resemblance. It’s not just him and me. I can see my father in both of our faces, too. His ghost is never far away.

When I shut off the television, the sudden silence jarred Edgar awake. He blinked with surprise, seeing me sitting on the sofa opposite him.

“You’re up here?” he growled. “Am I dying or something?”

I gave a sad smile. “No.”

“Then what’s going on?”

“I just wanted to see how you were.”

Edgar reached for a warm open can of Budweiser. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“Okay. Well, if you want the truth, Tai is downstairs packing. She didn’t want me around.”

“She leaving you?”

“Yes.”

“You cheat on her?”

“It’s complicated. Mostly, I think she just figured out that I wasn’t in love with her.”

Edgar snorted. “I’m pretty sure she knew that from the beginning.”

I thought about the Dylan whose life I’d taken over and the choice he’d made to be with Tai. I still didn’t understand it. “She said you told her not to marry me.”

“That’s right.”

“Sounds like everybody told her the same thing.”

“Yeah, so? Were we wrong?”

“I guess not.”

“So what are you going to do?” Edgar asked.

“What is there to do? She’s leaving.”

“Yeah. Give up. That sounds like you.”

“I don’t love her, Edgar. According to you and Roscoe, I never did. The best thing I can do is let her find someone who really does love her.”

Edgar laughed so hard he nearly spat out his beer. “That’s the best thing? For who, you or her? Aren’t you forgetting something? That girl was nuts about you from the beginning, and I assume she still is. Everyone told her you were damaged goods and she should run away, but she didn’t. That takes some balls, I’ll tell you. It’s not like she didn’t know what she was getting, but she saw something in you that you didn’t see in yourself. I gave her a lot of credit for that. Honestly, I gave you credit, too. I expected you to bail on her, but you stuck it out, at least until now. You worked your butt off to make a life with her, and it seemed to me like it was paying off. This past year, you were as happy as I’d ever seen you.”

I hadn’t heard that word very often in my life. “Happy? Tai made me happy?”