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Hardly the best role irl

There was no doubt that he would let her down No doubt at all

Depressed by his own inadequacy, he reached toward the bedside table and flicked on the radio Madelaine had given him Heavy-, he spun the dial until the rich h the tiny speakers

He felt a shiver of peace htened his stoo away He lay back in the pillows, letting the ed heart

Be her friend, Angel

It was his brother’s voice, threaded through the music

Angel sat up wearily, wedging his elbows beneath him Be her friend

It was exactly what Francis would have said if he were still alive Francis always knew the right thing to do in life, and he’d always done it Quietly, without hoopla or soul-searching or questions

Could Angel be like that? Could he even try?

In the old days—before the surgery—the ansould have coood He would have known that he couldn’t live up to a cohed at the very idea of trying

But now, lying here, listening to this music, he wondered Maybe this heart of his had coiven him a chance his old heart wouldn’t have allowed

He ought to laugh at the absurdity of the idea He knew that the heart was just an organ, not the storehouse of the soul or any of that nonsense And yet, no matter how often he told hiery, he’d begun to feel different He had different tastes in ry self, and then so or look out at the rain—and he’d know that there was sooodness that lay curled within the bad It scared hi that he wasn’t alone in his body anymore, but it also er’s heart, he felt a tiny surge of possibility, of goddaic

He wanted all of his pain and suffering toMadelaine and Chris and Hilda and Toiven a second chance at life Maybe he could finally make a difference

He wanted it suddenly, wanted it as

It felt good to want sooal Frankly, he hadn’t had too many of those in his life He’d never wanted much beyond the next movie role or the next woman or the next drink