The beautiful seventy-year-old woman who had always seemed ageless now lay perfectly still, as if she were sleeping.
With trembling fingers, I reached out and touched her hand. Her skin was pale and cold beneath my fingertips.
A wave of emotion crashed over me.
I carefully placed the mini angel wind chimes onto her folded hands. I had bought them a couple of months ago, thinking I would bring them when I finally visited her. I had imagined her smile when she saw them hanging near her window.
But I had waited too long.
My fingers shook as I withdrew my hand.
“Goodbye, Patty,” I whispered, my chin quivering as tears blurred my vision. “I’m so sorry I never came to visit you. I love you, and I’m going to miss you.”
I took one last look at her, then turned and walked back toward Elle. She slipped her arm gently through mine.
“I’ll give my condolences to the family and meet you at the car.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit,” Elle said.
After watching her walk away, I went and stood in line.
When it was finally my turn, I stepped forward slowly toward Patty’s family. My chest seized again at the sight of their grief-stricken faces.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said softly.
I kept my voice low and offered only those few words. There were still many people waiting in line to pay their respects, and I hoped that with so many mourners moving forward, Patty’s family wouldn’t engage in conversation with me.
They nodded gratefully, their eyes filled with sorrow, and I stepped aside.
As I turned to leave, I accidentally bumped into someone standing behind me.
“I’m sorry!” I said quickly.
The words had barely left my mouth when my breath caught in my throat as I looked up into a pair of familiar blue-green eyes.
Caleb.
Paralysis spread through my body, locking every muscle in place. Behind my sunglasses, my eyes widened in shock, my mind struggling to process the fact that he was standing right in front of me.
“Excuse me, but I just need to pay my respects,” he said politely.
His voice sounded the same—deep, warm, and achingly familiar.
I noticed immediately that his hair had grown longer, brushing slightly against his collar, and his beard was fuller than I remembered. Yet none of that changed the fact that he was still devastatingly handsome. The faint scent of the aftershave I had bought him on his birthday drifted toward me, lingering in the small space between us like a ghost of the past.
My heart twisted painfully.
He still wore it.
Memories threatened to pull me under.
I nodded silently, unable to trust my voice, and stepped aside quickly. My feet moved almost on their own as I hurried down the path toward the parking lot. My stomach was tightly knotted, and my breathing came faster with every step.
By the time I reached Elle’s car, my chest felt so tight it was difficult to breathe.
I climbed into the passenger seat and immediately pulled the scarf off my head. The sunglasses followed, and I tossed them onto the dashboard. They had started to feel suffocating, like the walls of a small room closing in around me.
“What’s wrong?” Elle asked, turning toward me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
