We have Riley.
~
I want you to know that she’s okay. For a long time, she wasn’t. But she is now and I hope I had something to do with that.
She loved you. She’ll continue to love you. And it’s because of that, I’ll continue to respect you. While she’s laying in my arms at night, I’ll keep my word to her… for you.
I told her once that I planned on loving her the way you did.
I hope that’s enough.
I hope I do you justice, Jeremy.
And I hope I continue to do so—for as long as we both shall live.
This, I promise you.
– Dylan Banks.
* * *
Dave,
I fell in like in a single text—when you told me to ‘carry the fuck on.’
I fell in love when you asked me to take care of your mom’s insecurities.
I fell in forever when you—a boy I loved—put his best friend and me first.
You were suffering, and no amount of times I wish upon a single candle that you’d come back, or that you’d have talked to someone—would change where you are now. But it changed the way I live my life. The way we both do.
Time and love is different. Love you can share; you can give to others. Love, in some cases, is even replaceable. Time is not. And I want to thank you for giving us yours. For being my anchor when I needed to be grounded and for being my calm when I had to hide my fear.
Your life was not for nothing, Dave. Every moment, every breath, every tick of the clock, Dylan and I grow as people, and as one. We live, we laugh, we love—not just with each other, but with everyone around us. You taught us that. You gave us that.
I love our boy. And I’ll continue to love him. For better or for worse, even when death does us part.
This, I promise you.
Riley Banks.
The End