Family members encouraged him to meet someone.
Friends invited him to dinners where a single woman always seemed to be seated beside him.
He declined every invitation.
One day I told him Mom would never have wanted him to spend the rest of his life alone.
He looked at me with an expression I have never forgotten.
“I am not alone, Lola,” he said. “I have you.”
That answer hurt more than I let him know.
Then, almost without warning, something changed.
He signed up for dating apps.
I discovered it one Saturday afternoon when I stopped by his house.
He sat at the kitchen table holding his phone with both hands.
His reading glasses rested low on his nose, and he was smiling at the screen.
I hadn’t seen that smile in years.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
He quickly locked the phone.
“Nothing.”
I raised an eyebrow.
He lasted less than ten seconds before giving up.
“I made a profile.”
“A dating profile?”
He nodded, suddenly looking self-conscious.
Before he could explain, I wrapped him in a hug.
At first he stood stiffly, then hugged me back.
“I think Mom would approve,” I told him.
“I hope so,” he murmured.
