“She can find Mom?”

“She’s trying.”

He took my hand, then asked me not to close the hospital room door all the way.

I left it ajar, bright enough for him to see the nurses’ station.

PART 6: Before the Water Turned Green

I met Dana when we were both twenty-four, long before our son could name a cloud formation or beat me at chess.

She had a laugh that arrived too early, sometimes before the punch line, and a fierce independence that made it hard to offer help without offending her.