“Now, we invite friends of the family...”
Several townspeople approached the grave and dropped a flower. Each person looked vaguely familiar, but at the same time unrecognizable. The only person he wanted to see was missing. She’d been missing since he woke up that morning to find his bed cold and hotel room empty.
“Your father was a special man. My condolences to you both,” an older man said.
It took every ounce of Harrison’s composure not to correct such statements and destroy his father’s memory by explaining what a vicious son of a bitch the bastard truly was.
This was for Erin, and he didn’t want to upset her. His sister still lived here and had to face these people on a regular basis.
The cluster of townsfolk thinned, and he spotted the McCulloughs approaching. “Let’s go,” he whispered in his sister’s ear, but not before Mrs. McCullough got ahold of Erin and pulled her into a bear hug.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, dearie. Your dad will surely be missed.”
His stomach turned. The scent of bullshit getting thicker and thicker.
The woman turned to him and he was swallowed in what he could only call suffocating maternal affection. He didn’t like having such things offered because there was no source of maternal anything in his life, so he tensed under the foreign affection and she let go.
“Sweet boy. I haven’t set eyes on you in years. How handsome you’ve become.”
He didn’t know what to say, so he stayed quiet.
Mr. McCullough held out a hand and Harrison shook it. That was normal. Hugs and soft sentiments were languages he couldn’t speak.
Finn McCullough approached Erin, and Harrison watched for any signs of old sparks. Erin should have married him. He could have given her a normal life. He’d always assumed they would have ended up together, and he felt like a shmuck for not knowing why or when they broke up. A brother should know such things, especially when he only had one little sister to look after.
Tugging his collar, Harrison cleared his throat. The shirt was choking him.
Where was Mariella? Why wasn’t she there?
In the distance, he spotted a man that looked like Giovanni Mosconi. It said a lot that Mariella’s brother would come to pay his respects, but she didn’t see a point. His jaw locked and he bristled against the cold.
Would things change now for Erin? She’d be all alone once he left. Maybe she’d finally be at peace and do something good for herself.
Was he responsible for her in some way now? What about holidays? With Ward gone, did he have some duty to do something? He didn’t celebrate holidays because his family never had. They were just like any other day, but maybe that would change now that it was just the two of them.
Still no sign of Mariella. The pressure in his chest heated and tightened, straining his muscles and making it hard to draw in a full breath.
Would Erin expect him to come back to Jasper Falls? Maybe he could do that now that Ward was gone. It would give him a chance to see Mariella.
No, he should come back for Erin. Family should be enough. But he couldn’t picture it, couldn’t imagine them doing something normal like carving a turkey as if on the set of some corny sitcom.
And what would happen when he eventually came back and found Mariella celebrating the holidays with her own family? Kids and a husband. Damnit, where the fuck was she?
“Harrison, we’re so sorry for your loss,” Finn said, shaking his hand.
He nodded, but kept small talk out of it.
When he spotted Mariella’s parents, he looked for her again, but she wasn’t there. Was that it then? No goodbye?
He supposed he deserved that. He just never expected her to do something so spiteful. That didn’t seem like her style.
Because it wasn’t. So why wasn’t she there? She couldn’t spare five minutes?
Unable to take one more condolence, he excused himself. “I’ll meet you in the car.”
He waited for Erin as she spoke to Mariella’s brother. Harrison was anxious to be on his way.
He’d finished what he’d promised to do, and now he was done. Too many unwanted feelings surrounding him here. He needed the noise and rush of the city to drown out those unwanted thoughts.
He still couldn’t believe Mariella didn’t show.
He watched his sister walk back to the car, her head lowered and her hand swiping about her eyes. Guilt stabbed into him and he wondered if he should stay one more night. One more day wouldn’t kill him, would it?
He could leave in the morning, just to make sure Erin was situated and didn’t need anything else. Twelve, maybe twenty-four more hours. But this time with no Mariella.
The thought alone nearly made him vomit. Too many bad memories. Too many questions about why she hadn’t shown.