Well, except when he and Truman were in bed. Then sometimes he let himself fall back into the sheets while Truman teased him slowly with kisses and caresses all over his body, until he was so sensitized he was writhing, desperate for more contact. Truman relished those precious moments of Ash’s unselfconscious desire that were for him alone.

After waking Ash with just such single-minded devotion, they went to Julia’s house for breakfast.

Tori opened the door with a cheery “Happy birthday,” and they followed her into the kitchen where Julia and Bradley were cooking.

In January, Ash had brought up the idea of housemates to his mother, and Julia had been enthusiastic. Though she’d doubted young people would want to live with her, Bradley and Tori loved the idea. They were genuinely fond of Julia and jumped at the chance to help her and also live in a lovely house and split bills so that their costs were low enough for Bradley to pursue his art full time and Tori to take classes online.

They’d expected a transition period and some wrinkles they’d need to iron out, all of which happened. What they hadn’t expected was the intense bond that Bradley, Tori, and Julia would come to share.

One morning in late March, when the temperatures had begun to creep up and optimistic Owl Islanders could be found enjoying the first bread crumb of spring, Ash had come home from picking up groceries crying.

“What’s wrong, baby? Are you okay?”

Truman had begun patting him down, searching for a wound.

“I saw my mom,” Ash got out.

Truman’s heart sank. They’d just been getting into a rhythm where Ash didn’t feel the need to check up on Julia every evening and didn’t feel guilty when he wasn’t with her.

Ash let the canvas totes slither off his arms and wrapped them around Truman.

“She was sitting outside Bob’s with Tori and Bradley. They were talking. She was telling them a story. She looked so good,” he said, then dissolved into sobs against Truman’s shoulder.

Ash loved her so much. Though they’d talked a lot about the toll her care had taken on him and the devastation he’d felt watching her deteriorate in the years before he and Truman met, in that moment, Truman realized that he’d not fully understood the burden Ash had carried. It was only in his gutting relief at seeing his mom thriving that Truman could gauge the depths of his previous pain.

It had been a turning point. Julia had blossomed with her new housemates. She still got confused. She still had bad nights. Their presence was no magic bullet. But having people who were always there, who could redirect her and remind her of things, who she had a shared schedule with, had helped her quality of life immensely.