My words come out strained around the lump in my throat. I squeeze him tight, muttering a silent prayer for him and his family, before letting him go.

He motions for me to take a seat across from him, so I do.

“Well,” he says, grasping for words that he obviously doesn’t want to say. “It’s . . . it’s cancer.”

“Oh, Kirk.”

He looks at me with horror-struck eyes that are filled with as much disbelief as pain.

“It’s not good,” he says, barely above a whisper.

“I am so, so sorry,” I say. “Can I do anything for you? Can I help?”

He shakes his head.

“Is she okay?”

“Right now, she’s resting. I came by to grab a few things because I don’t know how much I’ll be around.” He picks up a pen and moves it around his fingers. “They’ve given her a year. Maybe less.”

His voice breaks. It kills me to watch the tears streaming down his wrinkled cheeks. The dam holding my own tears back fails, and I cry right alongside him.

I’ve watched and lived through grief stealing my dad’s whole life and spirit. It breaks my heart to know this dear man, my friend and champion, will soon endure a horrific loss.

Charlotte has been like a favorite aunt to me ever since I started work at Skoolie’s, and I can’t imagine a world without her in it. How will Kirk manage this after spending his entire life living alongside her, building a world together? It’s just too soon for him to have to say goodbye.

My thoughts go to my father and how he must’ve felt saying goodbye to my mother. Did he feel this way too?

Kirk bows his head, the pain on his face suffocating me.

I can’t imagine him loving someone as long as he’s loved his wife and knowing he’s going to lose her. It strangles me, and I’m not really involved. How awful must this be for him?

“I’m going to be really honest with you, kid,” he says, taking off his glasses. He wipes his face with the backs of his hands. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do around here.”

“Kirk, don’t worry about it. I’ll do everything that I can. Between me and Burt and the guys in the shop, we’ll run this place. You have nothing to worry about.”

He forces a swallow down his throat before leveling his gaze at me. “I appreciate that, and I know you are capable of running the shit out of this place, Palmer. But I don’t know if I even want to deal with it right now at all.”

What? I rethink what he’s just said, and it makes sense. I get it. But what does that mean, exactly?