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you had gone with him, you might have been killed too,” Marshall said. “He was hit by some drunk kid celebrating his graduation. The kid ran a red light and hit James in a crosswalk.”
    “I just can’t believe it,” I said. “Why James? He did everything by the book. He worked hard, he went to church, he believed in God. None of it saved him.”
    “The good die young,” Sean said.
    “It’s not right,” Candace said.
    “It’s not a matter of right or wrong,” Sean said, “it’s what is and what isn’t. Death can come at any time. Accept it or not,death comes all the same. The only question is, what are you going to do about it.”

    Three days after graduation we attended James’s funeral in Philadelphia. He was buried with his graduation sash, the family’s first college graduate. The ceremony was simple and brief and affected me powerfully. I fought back tears the entire time. Candace held tightly to my hand throughout the service. Afterward, Candace and I went up to talk to his parents.
    “We’re sorry for your loss,” Candace said to them. “James was a good man.”
    His father’s eyes were swollen and red. “He was a good son,” he said. “We were very proud of him.”
    All I could think to say was, “God bless you.” Then I turned away. We left after that. We all went back to Sean’s house and sat in the front room in a grief-induced stupor. Gone was our usual banter and laughter. Sean brought out a bottle of bourbon and poured us shots. As we finished the bottle, I said to Sean, “We’re going to Europe with you.”
    Candace looked at me. “What?”
    “We’re going to Europe with them,” I said.
    Even with her grief, she looked distressed. “Can we talk about this?”
    “No. I’ve made up my mind.”
    “I can’t afford to go to Europe.”
    “You don’t need to,” I said. “I’ve got a trust fund. I’m bringing you.”
    She looked at me for a moment, then said, “You can’t do that.”
    “Yes I can,” I said. “Look at James. He postponed his life and never got the chance to live it. We don’t have time to waste. We need to start living now.” I turned back to Sean. “I’m going. Final answer.”
    “Bravo,” Sean said.
    Candace sighed. “Well, if you’re going, I’m going with you.”
    “Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’re both going. All that’s left to do is to tell my father.”

CHAPTER
Fourteen
    Today I broke my father’s heart
.
    Luke Crisp’s Diary

    Phoenix is a furnace in summer, but as I pulled into the parking lot of Crisp’s headquarters, I think I was sweating as much from my nerves as from the heat. My father had built the seven-story building two years before I left for Wharton and had filled the whole of it with Crisp’s operations. For the first time in my life I felt uneasy walking through the front doors of the business.
    It had been nearly a year since I’d seen my father. I wasn’t sure how he would react to my decision to abandon Crisp’s for an indulgent excursion around Europe for an indefinite period of time, but I was fairly certain that it wouldn’t be received well.
    I took the elevator to the seventh floor and took a deep breath before stepping out of it. Mary walked around her desk as I entered the office, her arms outstretched to hug me. “Luke, it’s so good to see you.”
    “It’s good to see you too,” I replied, taking her embrace.
    “I’ll let your father know you’re here. He’s just getting off a conference call right now. He’s so excited to see you. We all are.”
    “Me too,” I said, thinking my words sounded feigned. “It’s good to be home.”
    As Mary picked up the phone, a voice boomed behind me, “What’s wrong with security? They’re letting anyone in off the street.” I turned around to see a grinning Henry walking into the office. “Welcome back, my boy.”
    Henry was in his mid-forties, short and athletically built. The last time I’d seen him, he was losing the battle of