“Emmett let me snuggle with him in bed. We looked at pictures of you, because he missed you too. He said sometimes when he’s at hockey and he misses us too much, he looks at pictures of us and says what he wants to say to us.” I brush his auburn waves from his forehead. “What did you say to me?” “I said … I said three things.” He holds up four fingers, then second-guesses, counting them out and laying one back down. “I said I miss you, I love you, and can we have ice cream when you get home.” The look he hits me with is so hopeful, I feel it bloom in my own chest. “Did you hear me?”
