He came over after school. Every day. Not most days — every day, from October of 2024 until the end.
He did his homework on the floor of Jack’s bedroom with his back against the bed frame. He watched terrible movies. He played a card game they invented with rules neither of them could ever fully explain to me.
He was there for the hair. He was there for the steroid weeks, when my sweet kid got mean and said things to me that I have forgiven and will never forget.
He was there on the days Jack wouldn’t talk at all.
And he was there on the days Jack wouldn’t stop talking — and I understand now, because Theo explained it to me later, that those days were the worst ones, because Jack had figured out that if he went quiet everybody in the house got frightened, and so he performed for us.
