Getting older is it, isn’t it? Tess thinks so. This year, Ellie’s as old as she was got pregnant and had her, and it’s a strange thought to have. There’s not much in the way of usual milestones here, no graduations or promotions or big weddings or any of that, so getting older is the biggest mark of time, of endurance, of survival despite it all. Joel will never see any of it. He’ll never know.

And someday, Ellie’s going to be forty-six, older than Joel ever was. Hell, maybe older than Tess herself will ever get. They can never know.

“Just one of those things,” she replies, slowly. “You’ll think about him for the rest of your life, sweetheart, because you loved him.”