My son was better at love than I was, and I’d taught him everything he knew, and I could not for the life of me work out how that math came out in my favor.

But it did.

Standing at that fence, it did.

“He’s the man who taught himself to cook because I needed breakfast before school.

Who took leave without pay from his job every time I got sick.

Who used to park his truck outside my elementary school on his lunch break just to make sure I was okay.

Who bought me my first pair of cleats and then said he wasn’t hungry at dinner so I wouldn’t figure out that money was tight.”

Beside me, Russ dropped his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.