***
Then Lily’s treatments started taking a visible toll.
She began losing her hair. Even when she tried to be brave about it, everyone could see how much it affected her.
I was still processing the change and how much it affected Diane and her daughter when something else changed.
***
One evening, I was folding laundry in the living room when I heard Aaron’s footsteps on the stairs. Something about the rhythm felt different: slower and deliberate. I looked up, and the basket slipped from my hands!
My son’s head was completely shaved! Not trimmed or buzzed short, but smooth, pale, and unfamiliar under the lamplight.
“Aaron,” I breathed as he came downstairs. “What did you do?”
He ran a hand over his scalp, almost shy.
“A little? Honey, your hair! Why?” I stepped closer, reaching up before I could stop myself, my palm finding the cool, strange skin where his curls used to be.
