Changing the Things You Can by Ari McKay

Author:Ari McKay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

THE DAY of Chad’s funeral dawned gray and rainy, and Devon woke with a feeling of sick dread in the pit of his stomach he couldn’t shake.

He forced himself to get up, shower and dress, and even eat a couple of slices of dry rye toast, mentally blessing Michael Behrman for having brought him groceries three days earlier. Devon hadn’t been out of the house since then, holing up inside with the shades drawn like a recluse, which he supposed, in a way, he was. He was hiding from the world, but he couldn’t hide from the pain, grief, and anger he felt inside.

He’d longed to call Michael, but he felt as though he’d already imposed far too much. It was bad enough he’d fallen apart in the man’s shop and spilled his guts to Michael when he’d come over. But Michael was so easy to talk to and so normal that everything had come pouring out. It was the first conversation Devon had had with anyone outside of the music business other than his family in years, and it had felt surprisingly good. Michael had seemed truly interested in what he thought, and Devon had badly needed to talk to someone with no hidden agenda or vested interest in what Devon said.

Michael had been true to his word, since no reporters showed up at the door. It had given Devon time to grieve for Chad, to be furious at him, to rail against God and fate and everything else. He’d cried, screamed, and thrown things until he’d felt empty and drained, and now he simply felt numb, except for the knots in his gut. Those were from knowing he had to attend the funeral and face the Pierce family, knowing they probably blamed him just as much as he blamed himself for failing to save their son.

Then there would be the media to contend with, and Devon wasn’t looking forward to that either. Once they spotted him, he doubted he’d be able to drop off the face of the earth again as easily as he had the first time. Everyone would want to know what had happened in gory detail, and Devon wasn’t ready to relive it. The obvious solution was to stay away from the funeral and cling to the solitude and privacy he’d found, but his conscience wouldn’t let him do it. He had to go and tell Chad good-bye, or he’d never forgive himself.

At least the weather gave him the excuse to bundle up in a black trench coat that belonged to his father, and he pulled his long hair back in a ponytail and tucked it inside the neck of the coat. He found an umbrella in the foyer closet, and after taking a deep breath, he left the house to walk through the rain to the Ann Street United Methodist Church, which both Chad’s and Devon’s families had attended for years.

The area around the church was a madhouse, but not just because of the media, much to Devon’s surprise.

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