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Olivia’s hand came to rest on his arm. “Games like that aren’t supposed to have an ending,” she told him softly. “If you had seen the lamp here, she would have moved it somewhere else. It’s nice that there was one last place for you to find it after she was gone.”
Charlie smiled. “That makes sense,” he agreed. “You know, it means a lot to me when you say things like that, Olivia. I feel like you really understand what I’m going through.”
“I’ve lost people too,” Olivia said. “My father died when I was younger.”
“That must have been hard.”
“It was — and I had to be strong for my mom and my sister.” She cleared her throat. “I’m not saying any of that because I want you to feel sorry for me.”
“I didn’t take it that way.”
“I just wanted you to know that I could understand what you’re feeling. I know how it is to lose someone who means so much to you. I know how the most innocuous things can start to feel full of significance. As if her leaving that lamp there was some incomplete plot thread — some tragedy of circumstance that stopped you two from finishing your story together. The truth is that we never finish our stories with the people we love. Those stories just end, and it’s messy and awful, but it’s what happens.”
He looked at her. “You’ve thought a lot about this.”
“It’s what I said to Izzy when Dad died.”
“How old were you?”
“Fifteen.”
“So Izzy was…?”
“She was five.”
“God. That’s terrible. I’m so sorry that happened to you guys.”
“We’re all right. It brought the three of us closer, so even though it was a tragedy, we were able to make something good from it. And that’s what you’re doing now, selling this house. A new family will get to start their memories here, and you’ll be able to take the money and— and whatever you’re going to do with it.”
Charlie hadn’t even thought about what he was going to do with it. He had only thought about keeping it away from his siblings. “I’ll have to ponder that.”
“Want some advice?”
It was funny — a few weeks ago, he wouldn’t have dreamed of taking personal or financial advice from Olivia. Now he felt as if she was the only person in the world hedidwant advising him. “Please.”
“Whatever you do, make sure it’s something you would have liked to tell her about. If you buy a boat?—”
“I’m not buying a boat.”
“It’s just an example. I was going to say, if you buy a boat, let it be because she loved sailing, or because she loved watching the boats on the water, and then every time you used your boat you would be able to think about how much she would have liked that. How happy she would be that the sale of her house gave you this thing, whatever it is. It’s a way for you to stay connected to her.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Charlie agreed. “And to be honest, I think she would have said the same thing. You two would have gotten along great if you had known each other.”
“I wish we had,” Olivia said. “I can tell how important she was to you.”
“She was probably my favorite person in my family,” Charlie said. “It’s funny. I never thought about it in those terms before she died, but… I think it’s true.”
“It was pretty important to her to see you get married, I guess.”
“She thought it would make me happy,” he said quietly.
“You don’t agree.”
“No, I think it’s oversimplifying things to say that marriage will just automatically make you happy — especially marriage to a stranger.”
“Well, I’m sure she didn’t mean for you to marry a stranger. She probably thought there was a chance you had a girlfriend who you were holding off with because you weren’t sure what you wanted for your future, and that if she held your feet to the fire, you would propose.”
“I would have told her if I had a girlfriend.”Wouldn’t I? Now that he really thought about it, Charlie wasn’t sure what he would have done if he’d had a girlfriend. He’d never had one. He wanted to believe he would have opened up to Aunt Marge, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.