I went to look after the kids. Then suddenly we were ready to leave. I looked around for Chris to say good-bye but couldn’t find him; finally I went back into the house and literally ran into him.

“Hey!” I said. “I was looking for you!”

“I was looking for you!” he said.

“I just wanted to say good-bye.”

I hugged him.

“Me, too.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said.

I gave him a quick kiss and a hug—something we tried to always do when we left the house—and went out to the SUV to take the girls to the mall.

That was the last time I saw my husband, my best friend, my hero, alive.