He had to stop for a minute and take a few breaths. She’d been right about that meeting. It had given him something. A face. A story to fill the void. A sense of peace. And it reinforced the knowledge that Ben Kim was the greatest man Josh had ever known. He felt even closer to him after meeting his biological father.

I think about when I first came to your apartment, and it was such a mess. Hopefully, I broke you of that habit and our place is neat and clean.

“It is, honey,” he said.

I remember how you went for days without going outside, how you never went to the rooftop unless I ordered you to. I remember how when we were dating, I’d be the only person you saw sometimes for days at a time.

I don’t want that to be your life now, Josh. And so . . .

I think you should buy a house. That’s my job for you this month, honey. Start looking for houses. One with a yard for Pebbles, grass for you to cut, a garden where you can grow tomatoes, because you love tomatoes fresh from the vine, warm from the sun. I want you to have neighbors to wave to, and I want you to shovel some old lady’s walk when it snows. I want little kids to ring your doorbell on Halloween. I want you to walk out to the mailbox and chat with the nice folks across the street. Our apartment was great, but it’s pretty isolated, and even I couldn’t win over that couple from the second floor. Plus, Creepy Charlotte scares me (if she’s your second wife, I’m going to kill you, FYI).

He laughed out loud. Creepy Charlotte had opened her door the other night the second Josh had come home from a run. She was wearing a towel only. “Did you knock?” she’d asked.

“Absolutely not,” he said, running up the stairs before the towel could “slip.” He’d definitely gotten better at reading people this past year.

What do you think, babe? You don’t need to buy a house right now (but you can afford it, don’t forget). Maybe just start looking. Take Sarah. She loves open houses.

It’s a way to start thinking about a life separate from where we lived so happily together. Because that life is in the past now. It’s time to start making something new.

I love you so, so much, Joshua Park.

Lauren

He thought a minute.

Shopping for houses . . . sure. It was fun. He liked seeing open houses, just like anyone.

But leaving this place? That life wasn’t past! She was wrong. His life was right here, in the place where they’d lived. He’d bought the new couch, the new bed, as she’d asked.

But it was not time to leave.