I needed enough distance to stop watching his face for signs of the man I wanted him to be.

“How sick is she?”

“She has an autoimmune condition.

It’s been difficult to manage.

Some treatments help, but there have been periods when she couldn’t do everything she needed to do.”

He did not give me a new diagnosis or claim to know what her future would be.

He described appointments, tired days, bills, and the uncertainty of trying to care for a child while managing a chronic illness.

I asked whether she was dying.