Randall’s eyes were closed.
For several seconds I thought he was asleep.
Then he spoke.
“Is it on?”
Wade’s voice came softly. “Yes.”
Randall opened his eyes. “Good.”
He looked toward the camera but not quite into it.
“I don’t have much left.”
Wade murmured something I could not hear.
“No. Don’t argue. It’s boring.”
Elise laughed through tears.
Randall breathed carefully. “Meryl.”
My name barely formed.
“I hope you never see this.”
My heart twisted.
“Because if you see it, it means you lived long enough for Wade to break his promise.”
He closed his eyes again.
“That would be a good reason.”
A long silence passed.
Then Randall whispered, “I’m sorry.”
He did not explain for what.
Perhaps all of it.
Perhaps none of it could be separated anymore.
“I thought I could make this clean,” he said. “Her treatment over there. My dying over here. Two lines that never touched.”
