“I wasn’t even doing anything important. I can’t even remember why I ignored it in the first place. Now, look at me. That’s it. That’s all I have left. No voicemail, no nothing. Just one missed call.”

I didn’t know what to say to him. 

Thomas had just lost his brother. He wanted to make things happen as quickly as possible. He had a big meeting on Thursday that he needed to get back to Boston for. There was to be no memorial, no interment. We were to, in Thomas’ words,  just “take care of it”.

So I gathered the necessary paperwork for a direct cremation and slid them across the table for Thomas to sign. He barely even looked at them and certainly didn’t read them. That always blew my mind, when people would just sign off on documents without reading them. 

I didn’t know anything about the relationship between these two brothers, but something told me that they hadn’t been on the best of terms. There was something clinical about the way Thomas was tapping his pen on the table. This was just another box to check on his long list of errands for the day. 

That’s why that statement caught me so off guard. He had been so transactional the entire time that he’d been there. It was completely out of left field. I normally never uttered the words “I’m sorry for your loss”. They always felt impersonal and forced. This time, for the first time, it felt appropriate. 

I looked him in the eyes and said “I’m really sorry that you lost your brother, Thomas.” 

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah. Yeah, me too. Do you have siblings?”

“Yes, an older brother.”

He chuckled to himself. “So you’re the baby, huh? Do me a favor. Give him a call later today. Just to say hi. Will you do that for me?”

“I will.”

I called my brother a little later that evening once I was home from work. He didn’t pick up. I figured he was busy, and went about my evening. 

I watched a little bit of TV and started getting ready for bed, and my phone rang.

“Hello?”

It was my brother. 

“Hey, I’m just calling you back. I saw I had a missed call from you."