For a moment, she stared at that stretch of grass, at the white stone. For a moment she could see that beautiful face grinning at her, yelling at her, loving her. She opened her fist of pebbles and picked out the three loveliest—two for the years since he’d been taken from her, one for what they’d been together. Carefully, she placed them at the apex of the headstone’s curve. Then she sat down against the stone, tucking her feet beneath her, and rested her head against the smooth, cool rock. “Hello, Sam,” she breathed onto the river breeze.
