He treasured it.”Dillon put his arm around her again, pulled her close as his tears dripped down his cheeks. They stood there together until his tea...s abated. They stepped away, off into a corner and continued their conversation. Katy handed him a tissue and he dabbed his eyes and face.“You’re coming to the funeral tomorrow, aren’t you?” she asked.“Of course,” he said.“Can I ask a favor?”“Sure. Anything.”“It’s a big one.”“What is it?”“Would you speak at the service?”“Really? Me?”“Yes. You knew. Hope I like you and want ourrelationship to become closer."Hope blushed when getting the text. She then thought that Nathan wasgoing to get the best girlfriend ever. One who loved to play videogames, sports and got male humor.Hope then looked at Ayperi, her friend and wanted to do something forher. She took a chance with this next wish. She knew it might not workhow she planned it, but Hope did not want any more wishes and it mightfree her friend. Hope said to Ayperi, "I wish you were. They had been studying for a long time, at least a couple of hours, talking over every aspect of Freud's stupid life. He was such a ... a man. No wonder male psychologists like him.There was only so much Freud to talk about, and they'd reviewed all of their class notes, so the conversation turned to other things. Aimee was on the topic of lesbians again. Aimee had tried to talk about other things, about her church group, and her family, but her morbid sort of curiosity took over."So, what's it. ‘Why do you tell people that your wife is dead?’ she asked in an almost-whisper, scanning my face as she let that heavy shoe drop. I didn’t say anything, my surprise at her question only slightly bigger than my anger. No one knew that my wife was alive, and that was the way I wanted it. I hadn’t ever said ‘my wife is dead’ to anyone, and even though I knew that my silent acknowledgement of what people believed was almost as bad as lying, trying to explain the real reason behind my single-parent.