Josh looked up her obituary. Old Gran-Gran had been ninety-seven. No. He did not understand. He wrote a furious response, sent it and then blocked Keung’s number and email address. It wasn’t like they’d been close anyway. Who needed a friend like that?

He unblocked Keung the next day and apologized for being an asshole (even if Keung should’ve been a teeny bit more sensitive).

Josh wanted to make his wife proud. He wanted her approval. After the unpleasantness with Sarah, and the resentment when she, Donna and Jen had gone through her things, the angry email to Keung, he needed to do something to show he wasn’t that guy . . . to her, and to himself.

He wanted to do something good. Something Lauren-ish. Something that required him not to simply throw money at a cause—last month, he’d donated a chunk of money to the Hope Center’s latest project, which was turning a parking lot for a former podiatry office into a children-run community garden. Asmaa had gotten a grant to buy it, but she asked him if he’d like to donate to get the tarmac ripped up, buy supplies and plants, etc. “We’ll call it the Lauren Carlisle Park Children’s Community Garden,” she said. “Even if you don’t donate a dime, we’re naming it after her.”

“I’ll donate more than a dime,” he said. “But let’s just call it Lauren’s Garden.” He told Jen and Darius about it, too, and Donna, and his own mom, and they all donated, too, as he knew they’d want to.

But he wanted to do more than just write a check, so he met Asmaa at the garden site. They were struggling to design an irrigation system, he offered a solution, and just like that, he became a volunteer. A couple of times a week, he showed up to shovel dirt, help the younger kids make trellises for peas and beans for next spring. He helped them figure out where to put the paths and where to put the beds. His mom, who was quite the gardener, brought in plants that would grow again next year, and showed the kids how to deadhead the flowers.

It was exactly what Lauren would have done. The Hope Center was where they remet that perfect night when he saw her and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he had been really, really wrong about Lauren Rose Carlisle.