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The news landed like a physical blow, reshaping the room in an instant. But Rick hadn’t forgotten the promise. He had spoken of it often, and when he realized he couldn’t keep it himself, he asked Jennifer—his closest companion in later life—to come in his place.
She carried stories he had never voiced to them: moments of quiet longing, of feeling close yet slightly outside their shared circle, of loving the friendship deeply while never being sure how fully he belonged. Jennifer shared a photograph Rick had kept on his desk until the end: the three of them as teenagers, smiling, yet with Rick standing just a step apart. She spoke of things they had overlooked—not out of cruelty, but youth and unawareness.
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