“Of what?” Mason replied.
“Of me.”
“You were sad. Sad isn’t contagious.”
Tyler remembered that sentence for years.
A month later, something similar happened.
An elderly widower named George sat alone every Wednesday at the counter.
His wife of forty-six years had died.
George always ordered two cups of coffee.
One for himself.
One for the empty stool beside him.
Some customers whispered about it.
Mason didn’t.
He simply asked, “Why are you buying coffee for nobody?”
George said, “It was my wife’s.”
Mason stared at the empty stool.
Then asked, “Did she like it?”
“Too much.”
“So buying it makes sense.”
George smiled.
Mason began sitting with him.
Not every visit.
Only when George wanted company.
When George stopped appearing for two weeks, Mason asked Diane why.
She told him George was sick.
Mason insisted Hannah drive him to the hospital.
That visit led to another photograph.
