“He’s going to be heartbroken when I tell him. He’s staying with a friend. I’m trying to see who he might want to live with when I’m gone. I don’t want him to end up in a kill shelter, because he’s a little weird.”

I thought about who would want to take on a dog with a constant erection.

“I don’t think you could handle him,” Daphne said. “I see how you look at him. But he’s very particular about the company he keeps.”

“I could take care of him,” I said. I didn’t really want to, but I wanted Daphne to think of me as someone she could trust with something she loved.

“Pierre would have to do a trial run with you first to see. A weekend. But I guess it’s too late in the game for that. You should have come around sooner.”

“I’d be happy to dog-sit him at my place.”

“What will your husband say?” she asked, pointing to my wedding ring.

“He won’t mind,” I lied.

“I’ll think about it. Let me talk to Pierre.”

When she held up her arm, her flesh hung low and crinkled. I hadn’t noticed how thin she was. But who I saw in her bed compared with the photos that lined her living room walls was a shock that was hard to hide.

“I look bad, don’t I?”

“No, not at all.”

“My skin is crepey and I hate it. It makes me look so old. I’m not old. I just lost muscle mass.”

“I know you’re not old, Daphne.”

“That’s what’s so dumb about this. My body is failing, but up here—up here—I’m perfect.”

She pointed at her head, and what was happening to her felt exceptionally cruel to me.

“You know cancer tricks your brain into thinking you’re not hungry? It wants you to starve.”

“I didn’t,” I said, feeling breathless for a moment.

“Everyone out there is golfing. I’m trapped in here, in this body,” she said.

She swung her arm again, and I took her body in. She looked so small. She had worn a billowy shirt with long sleeves during our previous visit, so this was the first time I fully saw what the disease had done to her.

“I never fucking liked golf anyway.”

She smiled, and I laughed so I wouldn’t do anything to embarrass myself like weep—which was totally unprofessional. Nathan came back into the bedroom, wiping his hands on his pants.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Evelyn told me you were handsome, and I was just thanking her for the heads-up. I put on some blush, did you notice?”

I blushed, but Nathan moved past me, totally focused on Daphne.