When he rose, his mother handed him a tissue and gave him a nod of approval, squeezing his arm.

“Thank you all for coming,” he said, his voice breaking, and then Jen was hugging him, and his mother, and Donna and Sarah and Darius, Sebastian wrapping his little arms around Josh’s legs, everyone, everyone gathered around him and held him in their love . . . not just for Lauren, but love for him.

“We love you, Josh,” Jen said fiercely.

“We do, brother,” Darius said.

“I love you, Uncle Josh.”

“I love you, son.” I love you. We love you. We love you.

He started to cry then, and surrendered to it, sobbing in the embrace of their love. They weren’t just here for Lauren. They were here for him.

“We do get to eat,” he said finally, and everyone laughed.

“Good. I’m starving,” Jen said, squeezing him harder before releasing him.

He knew there was a proper way to serve the food and such, but he was done with the formality. This was enough. His guests helped themselves, his mother and Sumi handing out forks and plates and chopsticks. Donna poured wine and Darius opened beers. Josh went to the window and looked out, the cold air feeling good against his skin.

Sarah came and took his hand. “She would be so proud of you,” she whispered. “She always was. You did it, Josh. You made it through the first year.”

He nodded, and then he hugged her. “Thank you for sticking by me,” he said.

She nodded, took a shaky inhale, then let go.

“How was your date?” he asked.

“It was as bad as you guys predicted,” she said, wiping her eyes. “One of his icebreaker questions was ‘If you were going to kill me, how would you do it?’”

He laughed. “Wow.”

“Another one bites the dust,” she said. “Hey, would it be okay if I put on some music? Some of Lauren’s favorites?”

“That would be great,” he said. She went over to the iPad and started clicking away.

Ben appeared next to him. “You did great, son,” the older man said. “She was . . . she was a special girl.” There were tears in his eyes.

Josh hugged him. “Thank you, Ben. For being my father. For helping me.”

“It’s an honor.”

Josh patted Ben’s shoulder. “Go get some food.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

It was good to have a little distance from the throng, but he was so, so glad they were all here. A year ago, and for the two years previous, he had only thought of them as Lauren’s.

This past year, they had become his as well, some more than others, but all of them taking him into their hearts.