“It smells amazing.”
After that, Dylan began visiting whenever he saw me outside. Sometimes I made grilled cheese or brownies. Other times, we simply sat at the kitchen table while he drank hot chocolate and told me about school.
He rarely asked for anything.
Mostly, he wanted someone to listen.
As the years passed, he became part of my life. He carried groceries, raked leaves, shoveled snow, and changed lightbulbs once he grew tall enough.
Whenever I tried to pay him, he grinned.
“You already paid me.”
“With what?”
“Pizza.”
My husband, Richard, never understood why I was so attached.
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