Party Perils by Patti Benning

Author:Patti Benning [Benning, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2021-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Hannah hated funerals. She was pretty sure most people felt the same way she did, but sometimes she wondered if she didn’t hate them just a bit more than everyone else did. It wasn’t the palpable grief in the air, or the sense of finality, though both factored in. It wasn’t even the perennial awkwardness that came from not knowing what to do with her hands or her face while she listened to some stranger talk about a lost loved one.

It was how empty the whole thing felt. No matter how many words were spoken or how many pictures were shown, she felt like it was never enough. Funerals only began to touch the true loss that someone’s death signified. They always fell short of the truth. They missed the little things; the way someone smiled when they were happy to see you, the smell of their cooking, the way they answered the phone. Funerals, to Hannah, always felt like one last attempt to grasp something that was already long gone.

Still, no matter how much she hated them, funerals weren’t something one simply skipped. She dressed herself in her best black, the only color being the dark red of the camisole she wore under her button-down. She was in a pantsuit, with same sensible flats she wore whenever something called for dressing up, with her hair drawn back into a somber bun. She felt like an intruder as she entered the funeral home. She hadn’t known Edward, not really, but she had been there for his last minutes. It formed a sort of connection, one that made her heart clench as she walked past a collection of photos of him smiling and younger.

“Hannah, over here.” Caroline’s voice wasn’t quite loud enough to be a shout, but it caught Hannah’s attention. She veered through the slowly growing crowd toward Caroline and Dean, a bit embarrassed about how glad she was for the familiar faces.

“We’ve still got a few minutes before we’re supposed to sit down,” Caroline said, her hand tucked securely into Dean’s elbow. “Do you want to look around at the pictures?”

“No,” Hannah admitted, feeling uncomfortable. “Sorry, I know it probably sounds terrible, but I don’t want to have to think about who he was. Seeing his death is bad enough. If I learned more about who he was, it would just make me feel even worse.”

Caroline nodded, not looking at all perturbed. “I feel bad; I didn’t bring anything. A lot of other people brought flowers, but I remembered how many Lacey already had in her kitchen, and I figured she probably wouldn’t want any more.”

“I didn’t bring anything either,” Hannah responded. Her reasoning had been the same. Food, flowers… Lacey had more of both than she could possibly want. What else could she bring that would mean anything? Lacey didn’t want cards or roses. She wanted answers, and Hannah was determined to find them for her.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this soon,” Caroline whispered, echoing Hannah’s thoughts.

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