Inside was a shirt box, and when he removed the top, he found a white wire-bound book with QUINCY’S CHRISTMAS MEMORIES printed in red script across the middle with garland and holly beneath it. He took it out of the box and opened the cover, his heart constricting at the sight of the first drawing Truman had ever left by his bed. Tears welled anew as he took in the picture of Truman’s face on a bird’s body, soaring through the sky with Quincy as a little boy riding on his back. Below the picture was the story Truman had told him about how he wished he could fly them away to someplace where drugs didn’t exist. Quincy inhaled a ragged breath as he turned the page, met with another of the pictures he’d lost, one of the rose gardens, and another story he’d never forgotten. For the next half hour, he marveled at pictures and stories from the past he wished he could forget, and at the same time, he never wanted to let go of the moments behind each of the images in the book.

When he came to the last page, his heart filled up, and laughter tumbled out. Truman had drawn a picture of Roni sitting on Quincy’s shoulders. He was holding the trunk of the tree near the top with one hand as she placed the star on it, and in his other hand was his phone as he took a selfie of them. Below the picture the caption read Our first perfect Christmas tree. Beside them were two connected red hearts. The heart on the left had Roni written inside it. In the connected space between the two hearts, loves was written vertically, and inside the right heart was Quincy, all three words written in black in Roni’s swirly handwriting.

He swiped at his tears, and then he lay back on the bed to take a second look through the most glorious Christmas gift he’d ever been given.

RONI SAT ON the couch sipping a warm mug of hot chocolate, staring absently at the lights on the Christmas tree and the gifts beneath it, wishing Quincy were there. And then the guilt rolled in for having that selfish thought when he was doing something far more important for them. She tried to push that guilt away, hoping the present she’d dropped off yesterday had brightened his morning. Truman had worked hard for the last few weeks on those pictures, and she’d wanted to see Quincy’s face when he opened the gift. But she was sure he needed to see them now even more.

This was supposed to be his special Christmas, filled with nothing but good memories and firsts. She was glad he was taking care of himself and putting his recovery above all else, but that didn’t stop her from missing him more than she’d ever missed anyone or anything in her life. Even more than she’d missed dancing after the accident. Unfortunately, missing Quincy brought an onslaught of other emotions. Uglier emotions she’d been trying to hide from everyone else, even Penny, whom she’d been talking with daily because she was as worried about Quincy as Roni was. Talking about the things they missed about him and their hopes and fears about his recovery had created a sisterly bond Roni was thankful for. But she kept the harsher feelings to herself because Penny and everyone else had enough on their plates worrying about Quincy, trying to make sure Roni was okay, and making arrangements for Simone to go to Redemption Ranch in Colorado, which, thankfully, Simone had finally agreed to. Roni could tell Elisa and Angela about the feelings she was hiding, but she didn’t want to worry them any more than she already had, either. They had been wonderfully supportive. Elisa had even told her to take some time off, which Roni didn’t do. The last thing she needed was more time alone.