He had said something else before he left the hospital that day. “You don’t owe me anything for this,” I told him. He just shook his head and answered, “You already gave more than you know.” Those words have been sitting with me ever since.

Last night I took the phone out of the charger and stared at his number again. The screen lit up the kitchen table and I could see my reflection in the window behind it. But I put it back down without pressing any buttons. I guess I am still not ready to find out if he thinks about those winters the same way I do.

I was wrong to believe that once he stopped showing up, that was the end of it for both of us. The truth is he kept a piece of it with him all along.