James pushed at the egg whites with his fork. It was hard to swallow grief and keep an appetite. His phone vibrated with an incoming message and he tapped the yellow mask of Grindr to open the application. He was hardly in the mood to meet up with friends, but decided at the very least a distraction would be welcome. There was one new red message notification.

James tapped the profile to open it and he nearly lost his breath as Robbie’s face beamed back at him. It was an old photo, one of his favorites that they’d taken while skiing in Whistler. But this… this was impossible. This was Robbie’s profile, and it was active. The message was brief and to the point.

Don’t let it pass you by.

James wheeled around in his seat and shot violent looks around the diner, sure that someone was playing a cruel joke. His blood boiled. Someone had a very sick sense of humor to send a message with a lyric from the Sarah McLachlan song that was just playing. The song that had played at Robbie’s funeral.

In the chat window, a little GPS map arrived. A red pin was stuck in the center of Granville, a small island in the downtown waterways of Vancouver. He pulled a ten-dollar bill from his pocket, slid it under his plate, and was out the door.

JAMES PUSHED his way through the crowded market. There were hundreds of people milling around the display stands, casually enjoying the weekend. The sound of multiple languages tickled his ears and the smell of chocolate and fruit, cheeses and fish wafted past him. It was like any other Saturday morning, except he was here alone. Granville Island had been a favorite for Robbie. While James had at first reluctantly gone along, it was Robbie’s enthusiasm for all things simple that had charmed him into making it a weekend ritual.

James stopped pushing through the crowd and slowly looked around. Life was all around him. It wasn’t the life he’d imagined, but it was still here and, like it or not, he was in it. People flowed around him like he was a boulder in the stream. They flowed young and old, in love and in argument, a million miles away and in the moment. He’d spent so much time missing Robbie that he’d stopped noticing everything, and now for the first time he felt a simple and vacant peace. It all continued without Robbie. It was dreadful and beautiful to admit but it was true. Just as it would all one day continue without him.