Consoling myself after I read The Secret History with the knowledge that Richard and Francis at least kept in contact with one another up to at least one year prior to current-day (when Richard is telling the story as a 28-year-old).
I also need to write out the timeline of their interactions because I wanted confirmation that this last contact was years after they met in Boston in the epilogue:
Richard met the others when he was 20. The year after, when he's 21 (or turning 21) the events towards the end of the book happen and the rest do not return to Hampden in fall for the new term. Richard meets with Francis twice during the summer in New York. This seems to be the last time they meet until 3 years later. (If they met up again without Richard mentioning it, the arrival of the letter shifts accordingly; unless I'm missing a canon mention of this, I'm taking this summer as their last meeting until Boston).
Richard states he needs the additional year at Hampden to finish his degree, so I presume that he starts off in his junior year at Hampden (I know nothing about how transferring colleges works in the US, or in the THS universe). Which means that year would be his senior year, and when starts dating Sophie. After graduation some time around the age of 22, he moves back to California with her and starts applying for graduate fellowships. They break up six months later. Francis knows about the relationship, so we know Richard stayed in contact to some degree with him. Francis wishing Richard to be happy with Sophie in his letter suggests that Richard might have shared their talk of getting married.
Richard is writing his dissertation when he receives Francis' letter. Since we know that he has not met Francis in 3 years, he should be around 24 when the letter arrives. Which means in the 1.5 years since breaking up with Sophie, he has not told Francis about it, or they have not been in contact. (If I wanted to view this through rose-coloured shipper lens, I would line this period up with Francis getting involved with Kim, being discovered by his grandfather, forced to get engaged to a woman, and attempting suicide—all the while unaware that Richard and Sophie have actually broken up. Not my canon reading though...I think :P)
Throughout the epilogue where Richard outlines what happened with their cohort, there are a few asides to what Francis has told him or little facts related to Francis, like the apartment gifted to him by Priscilla's father, or the fact that Francis' cousin adopted the feral cat, which is cute. We also get the time of Richard's last-known contact with Francis, being "about a year ago" (when Richard is 27), regarding the rumour about Julian.
I don't think Richard met or spoke to Camilla again after their last conversation in Boston, when she returned home, as Richard describes it as their final goodbye and does not mention any further conversations with Camilla (or Charles). It seems like Francis is the only person he stayed in touch with.
Despite the above outline, I feel like the last bit with Francis and Camilla happened closer to the current day, just because it happened at the end of the book, and Richard and Francis did meet off-screen when Richard was around 24/25. However, that would mean that Richard had already broken up with Sophie at that last meeting, and yet had not told Francis about it. I suppose that does give me shippy material to work with too haha
Which is all to say, my post-canon ending for Richard and Francis remains totally plausible!!
