I smiled sadly.
“Every day.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Sometimes very much.”
She considered that.
Then asked:
“Can you still be happy?”
I looked at her.
Her serious little face.
Her dark eyes.
Her hands folded neatly in her lap.
And I realized she'd asked the same question I'd been asking myself for almost a year.
I touched her cheek.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
I smiled.
“You can miss someone terribly and still be happy to wake up in the morning.”
Lucy nodded slowly.
Then she leaned against me.
“Good.”
“Why good?”
She looked up.
“Because I like having you.”
I pulled her close.
“Oh, Lucy.”
She hugged me.
And suddenly, the house didn't feel empty at all.
Six months later, The Extra Chair House opened.
More than three hundred people attended the ceremony.
Former employees of Thomas's company.
Local teachers.
Young people from Julian's workshop.
Families.
Volunteers.
Neighbors.
Friends.
And several people I'd taught decades earlier.
