Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I squeezed her to me, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, and held on tight.
My sister, who was curious by nature, stared at me over the top of Verity’s head, and I winked at her.
She stuck her tongue out at me, and I felt something tight in my chest relax.
Marnie, Trent, and I had had a knockdown, drag out fight with our parents over the last two days about whether we should cremate my grandparents or not.
They agreed with our aunt, Kenneth and Eugene’s mom, that they should be buried in a cemetery next to each other.
I’d argued that that hadn’t been what the two of them wanted, and Trent and Marnie had agreed.
In the end, my parents finally settled with us, and we’d outvoted our aunt, but it hadn’t been because they were agreeing with us. It’d been because the lawyer had butted in and informed my dad and aunt of their parents’ wishes.
The music that’d been playing changed, and my body jerked at the realization that the service was about to start.
The funeral home had gone over everything that they were going to do, down to the last detail, and I knew the sound of my grandparents’ wedding song signaled the beginning of the service.
My eyes went to the screen above the microphone, and my heart ached when I saw the first picture was of my grandfather and me fishing.
The next was of my sister, him, and my grandmother riding on a motorcycle, almost exactly like the one that had been plastered all over the Internet with a rude, derogatory comment right above Verity’s ass.
As the pictures flowed through the slideshow, Verity leaned her head against my chest and rested her hand on my thigh, completely ignoring the angered eyes of Kenneth.
I turned my head slightly once to see him staring at Verity, and I turned back. Without flipping him off, might I add…though it was close.
As the slideshow came to a close, another song started to play, and I immediately stood, as did the men two pews back.
The National Anthem.
My grandfather had served twelve years in the Army while my grandmother had served eight. It’d been where they met.
My grandfather had come to my grandmother, a nurse, after a suspicious case of gout had nearly brought him to his knees.
And the rest was history.
They spent nearly every waking moment together from that point on and had even died on the same day.
Which, I guess, was a blessing.
I didn’t see one lasting long without the other—especially knowing the other had died so brutally.
Verity’s hand on my knee, circling it with one blunt fingertip, brought me back to the present, and I buried my fingers in her hair, wishing this thing would be over with already.
But it didn’t happen fast.
It was the slowest funeral I’d ever been to, and I didn’t know if that was due to the fact that there were actually two funerals happening at once, or if the people that spoke were just talking for irrationally long times.
Whatever the reason, by the time it all ended over an hour and ten minutes later, I was practically jumping out of my skin.
My body itched in this brand new, long sleeved dress shirt. I had a suit jacket on that restricted my movement, and the pair of pants I was wearing were one size too small.
Verity’s presence, though, kept me comfortable, and she stayed with me the entire time.
By the time the funeral coordinator gestured for the family to leave, I was already on my feet and urging Verity to walk quickly—which she thankfully did after she got out of the pew.
My brother and sister followed suit, keeping up with my retreating back, and piled into the same car as me.
“Mom’s going to kill us,” Trent muttered, looking at the crowd that started to seep out of the auditorium’s doors.
“Mom can suck it,” I mumbled, leaning back into the seat and staring tiredly at the roof. Remembering my manners, though, I leaned forward and took Verity’s hand. “Verity, this is my brother, Trent, and my sister, Marnie.”
Marnie waved her fingers, and Trent gave her a nod.
“This is the girl that you were talking about?” Trent asked after a while.
I nodded and brought Verity’s hand up to rest on my thigh as I stretched my own arm out behind her on the seat.
Bikes started up around the car we were in, and I relaxed even further.
“Are you going to be all right?” Verity asked softly. “You don’t look too good.”
“Big brother here doesn’t like crowds,” Marnie offered. “It took everything he had to be in that building with all of those people. That was thanks to our Aunt Eloise and our mom, though. If we’d have had our way, we would’ve had a wake like Pop and Grams wanted, instead of going through all this.”