The veteran listened with an intensity that made Elise slow her words. “Sometimes,” she added, “I think something happened back then that she didn’t have the strength to unpack. She’d drift off during certain songs or dates. Like she was remembering someone she’d never spoken of.”
“Like, for instance, there was that photo. She kept it tucked in her bible,” Elise continued. “Just one. A young man in a uniform. The picture was so faded it almost didn’t feel real. Dad said she refused to throw it away, no matter how much the image disappeared.”