“I’ll just go make some coffee,” Hannah says to everyone and no one.
“Thank you,” Aliza looks at her softly. Before looking directly at me. Her eyes staring into mine. It’s unnerving.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I tell her. Instantly feeling like a chump for saying it because there are no way that those words can ever be enough.
“Thank you,” she says before taking a deep breath, shoring up her courage. “Sam was the great love of my life. It kills me that he and the kids are gone. It kills me. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat because they were the very best parts of me. Do you understand?” She asks of me, her eyes locked on mine.
“No,” I shake my head.
“Don’t throw away your happiness out of hurt and anger. Sam did so many stupid things. God, he could make me crazy. But, I loved him so much. And he loved me. Don’t lose that.”
“Okay,” I say stunned.
“The funeral will be Tuesday at eleven o’clock. Anyway, I’m tired,” she says politely as she stands.
“We should be going,” Mable says. Oh, now she chimes in. Thanks for letting me hop on the train to crazy town with a grieving widow. Or was it really crazy? Could she be right?
Tuesday rolls around before anyone in this town is ready. I quietly dress in a simple black dress with cap sleeves and a tastefully rounded neckline. I open my jewelry box and Cody’s ring winks at me. How I wish I could put it on with confidence and claim him as mine. But how can I believe any of it was true? How can I not?
I meet Mable downstairs and we head to the church without words. Today is not a happy day. The church is tall and white and beautiful, and filled with the whole town. Sam was not only a local hero returned home, but also a beloved football coach.
The service is sweet and sad and full of love. Sam’s life was so full of love and nothing was more prominent than the love he had for his family. His friends and family spoke often of how Aliza and the girls were his world. The service is wrapped up in a slideshow of photos from his life to Old Dominion’sTil It’s Over.Pictures of Sam in his uniform, overseas, playing football, marrying Aliza, the birth of the girls and so on swirl through the music and beautiful words of loving while you can. It freezes on a picture of Sam and Aliza with their arms wrapped around each other and the girls. Everyone is smiling at the camera except for Sam who is looking at Aliza with all the love in the world in his eyes.
I see Cody as we all shuffle out of the church like cattle. He has been tasked as a pallbearer for one of the girls. Those who served with Sam, including Holt, are in their uniforms as they escort Sam’s flag draped coffin. Cody looks devastated. When our eyes meet, he nods once before looking away. I see the Mayor, my dad, and he does the same. I know what I have to do, but this isn’t the time or place.
