I had been guided there, gently, across two decades, by a man who had arranged his own dying around the single hope of seeing me.

Chapter 3 — The Person He Waited For

It did not take long before I became the person Julian waited for, and I will not pretend that the waiting ran only one way, because the truth is that I began to look forward to him just as much.

I brought him coffee the way he liked it, black and a little too strong, and I stayed long after my volunteer shift had officially ended, and I sat in the chair beside his and I listened to him talk.

And Julian, once he decided to trust me, turned out to have a great deal to say.