“It tastes like wet cardboard.”
That became our rhythm. He snapped. I snapped back. Eventually, he let me help.
***
One afternoon, while I fixed the brake on his chair, he asked, “Was Lisa in college?”
“Community college. She loved it.”
“What did she study?”
“Everything. Nursing, design, psychology, then accounting because numbers made sense. She was still choosing.”
He almost smiled.
“Was Lisa in college?”
“She once bought a yellow raincoat keychain because she said it looked emotionally supportive. She would have argued with you like crazy, Adrian.”
He dropped his spoon.
His face had gone pale. “A yellow raincoat?”
I stared at him. “Yes.”
“Was it hanging from her car mirror?”
My hand froze on the chair brake.
“Adrian, how did you know that?”
