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She didn’t have parents, siblings, grandparents, and her only lover was gone too.
There was no one, and she was completely alone.
The tears came, and she tried unsuccessfully to fight them off. They slid down, heating her cold damp cheeks as she stood halfway to her family.
Her thoughts started looping faster and faster now. All of her failings—what if she left and failed again? How could she do this to the station? When would she see her friends? What did it all mean? Would she still be alone?
Megan shook herself and looked around at all of the headstones around her. The granite was dark and gray with the rain. Literal marks on this world.
Each one of these people had been children, loved ones, cherished. Did they have children of their own? Well, that’s how it went, didn’t it? What legacy did they leave? One of kindness? Friendships? Family?
At her grandmother’s funeral, a few locals had come by, but Megan didn’t remember many of them. It had been a blur of well wishes in a numb shell of emotion. No one was close enough to hold her while she cried. Just like now, she had been alone.
Found alone in the ashes, alone to grieve, alone in love. Would she die alone? Did it matter?
She hugged herself as the thought chilled her to the bone. She had friends. How long would it take for them to realize she wasn’t at home if she let go of the wheel on the ride back?
Enough. Megan pushed those thoughts away and stood tall.
Yes. She did matter. She had friends, and dreams, and goals. She had family and she didn’t know if she was religious or not, but she believed she would see them again. She would be loved.
Megan tramped up the hill, focusing on her family and what she wanted to say this time, not on the person sitting there. She would say hello and that was it. Maybe they would leave after a time, even though they had an umbrella and she did not. She made sure to let her boots stamp on the ground so as not to scare whomever it was. They didn’t flinch as she approached from behind, and she started to speak.
“Good afternoon…” She jumped when she recognized him. At the sound of her voice, a large yellow tail started thumping against the wet grass. Levi jumped up and bounded right over, muddy paws and all.
“Hello, Megan.”
Mr. Chapman sat under a large black umbrella. “I was wondering if I would ever see you here.”
CHAPTER42
“Mr. Chapman? What are you doing here?” Megan asked through the drips of cold rain.
“Just visiting the family.” He nodded his head toward the gravestones on the opposite side of the bench from her family plot and gave her an odd smile. “I like to keep in touch. Want to join me?”
“Sure.” She sank down next to him on the cold granite bench.
They sat together like that, with the sounds of rain around them. Mr. Chapman’s golf umbrella shielded them from the cold rain. They admired the graves through the drops of water like tears off the edge of the umbrella.
Levi snuggled down at their feet under the bench, which was presumably keeping him dry. Minutes ticked by before either one spoke. Mr. Chapman broke the silence first.
“I remember when Troy first met you.”
Megan smiled, the sadness tugging at her heart. He must be heartbroken. In a way, he was losing his last family member too. Megan had thought about calling him to ask how he had been after the arrest, but never could bring herself to pick up the phone.
“He was interested in every little detail about you. He didn’t want me to notice, but I could tell. Any chance he would get, he would ask me about you. About what you liked or what you didn’t like. About your family.”
Megan didn’t move or speak, not sure of where this was going. Her heart was too tired to want to try and predict, having already bet the house and lost. If she didn’t like him so much, she would’ve let him know about the bad breakup and shut him down. Given everything he was going through, she let him continue to give her a play-by-play of her heartbreak.
“We got to talking, and once you two started going out, he seemed so much happier.”
That brought a ghost of a sad smile to her lips.
“He’s been through a lot, you know. I did my best, but I wasn’t prepared to give him what he needed. I tried, but I don’t understand a lot about all of this mental health stuff. My daddy was a hard man. You had to be in those days. It was literally life and death. He loved us, in his own way. Provided, disciplined, and drug us to church. There was much more cursing than praise, and that’s the way I was raised.
“I remember telling him, Dad, it’s not like that anymore. We don’t have to fight for everything, but you see, that’s all he knew how to do. He fought for everything he had. I thought life was easier until I lost half of mine. All I had left was Troy. He’s a lot like my dad in that regard. Just pushes through. That was even before the army. And then…well, he’s been through a lot.”
Megan nodded.
