His voice broke completely.
I couldn’t hold it together anymore. I broke down completely, right there in the cold cemetery grass.
Eli knelt beside me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
We went back to my place and ate together in silence, the kind of silence that felt like understanding.
Before he left, Eli paused in the doorway.
“I’m not asking for anything. I just needed you to know the kind of wonderful person your mother really was. And that I’m here… if you ever need me.”
I looked at him, and I heard Mom’s voice again in my head: “It’s for someone who needs it.”
So, I opened the door wider.
His smile was small and grateful. “Okay.”
We sat on the couch. Watched an old movie neither of us really paid attention to.
And somewhere around midnight, I realized something: My mom hadn’t just saved Eli all those years. She’d saved me too.
