I Promised My Son Forever—Then Cancer Made Me Count the Months

and a face that looks weathered but kind. She watches Leo too, smiling faintly.

After a moment, she says, “He’s a climber.”

I nod politely, because that’s what you do in America: you exchange tiny comments with strangers like you’re all part of the same temporary tribe.

“He never stops,” Mike says.

The woman’s smile tightens, just a little.

“Mine was like continue reading …