After my mother died, I started volunteering at a hospice because I could not bear going home to an empty house. That was where I met Nathan, a dying man with no visitors, no emergency contact, and one final request that should have made me walk away.
Two years after my mother died, I started volunteering at a small hospice outside town.
I told people I wanted to help.
The truth was that I needed somewhere grief could exist without anyone asking when I planned to move on.
Nathan had one leather bag and no emergency contact listed.
That was where I met Nathan Cole.
He was fifty-nine, sharp-eyed, and annoyed by almost everything. He hated weak coffee. He hated daytime television. He hated when nurses called him brave.
Most patients had flowers, photographs, or relatives who arrived carrying food.
Nathan had one leather bag and no emergency contact listed.
“You remembered cream in my coffee.”
During my second shift, I brought him coffee from the cafe across the street.
He took one sip.
“You remembered cream in my coffee.”
“You complained about it for twenty minutes.”
“Complaining does not guarantee anyone listens.”
A few days later, the volunteer coordinator stopped me in the hall.
“It does when you are impossible to ignore.”
That earned the first smile I saw from him.
A few days later, the volunteer coordinator stopped me in the hall.
“Nathan requested you.”
“Why?”
I should have asked more questions.
“He said you remind him of someone.”
I should have asked more questions.
Instead, I started visiting him before I signed out.
Nathan told stories in pieces. He had washed dishes, driven delivery trucks, and spent most of his life running a diner.
Whenever I asked whether he had children, he changed the subject.
The man held up a folder.
Once, while I was doing a crossword beside his bed, a man in a dark suit appeared in the doorway.
Nathan’s face changed immediately.
“What do you want?”
The man held up a folder.
“Your signature.”
The man glanced at my coffee, then at the crossword book between us.
Nathan took the papers without introducing us.
The man glanced at my coffee, then at the crossword book between us.
For one second, something hard crossed his face.
“This is Eric,” Nathan said. “He handles my paperwork.”
Eric gave me a restrained nod.
