But if it couldn't be love and it didn't feel like lust, what was it? Like? Did he like her? Of course, he did, but that word didn't capture his feelings, either. It was a little too... vague and soft around the edges. People liked ice cream. People liked to watch television. It meant nothing, and it didn't come close to explaining why, for the first time, he felt the urge to tell someone the truth.

I know it can't be the same between us, but that doesn't change the way I felt about you then.

When you know that someone close to you is going to die, there's a natural tendency to want to spend as much time with them as you can.

God is out there watching you, even when you're away from home and that if you put your trust in God, you'll be all right in the end.

I love you," he finally whispered. She leaned forward and touched his face. "I know. And I love you, too.

Like her father, he wasn't comfortable sharing his thoughts and feelings. She tried to explain that she needed to be closer to him, but it had never seemed to make a difference.

I gave you the best of me, he'd told her once, and with every beat of her son's heart, she knew he'd done exactly that.