After Tad was gone, the ring provided a constant reminder of what he’d lost that hurt Derek to dwell on it. He would catch a flash of gold from the corner of his vision, in the mirror as he combed his hair or reflected off the window of the car, and a rush of emotions would sideswipe him, threatening to drown him in its wake. It often caught him unawares, and could blacken his mood swifter than a summer squall blowing up along the coastline. At one particularly low point, he took off the ring and tied it to Tad’s letters. Though he thought of it often, he resisted the urge to open the drawer.
Months later when he put the ring on again, his reaction to the metal surprised him. Standing by his bed, wearing nothing but a towel, his body still drying from the shower, Derek felt energy coursin
