Cleaned when he no longer had the energy.

And on the good days, we sat across from each other playing chess while he pretended not to let me win.

Then one afternoon Julian looked at me and said:

“Marry me.”

I thought he was joking.

He wasn’t.

“Julian…”

“I know how strange this sounds.”

“That is one way of describing it.”

He smiled weakly.

“I don’t have much time left.”

I looked away.

We both knew that.

His doctor had recently told him the disease was progressing quickly.