told awful jokes at dinner and laughed before reaching the punch line.
There was always music playing somewhere in the house.
After she was gone, silence settled over everything.
For years, he refused to date.
Family members encouraged him to meet someone.
Friends invited him to dinners where a single woman always seemed to be seated beside him.
He declined every invitation.
One day I told him Mom would never have wanted him to spend the rest of his life alone.
He looked at me with an expression I have
