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I shot her a stern look of disbelief before responding. “That’s shameful. I don’t care about your husband, but your kids should be here. Their grandmother just died.”
Sandy snapped back quickly, her voice low and controlled. “It’s not like they knew her really well.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” I hissed.
My gaze shifted up to the church’s high ceilings, and I silently prayed for God’s forgiveness for my language. I’d said what I needed to say and was done with it all. Sandy had to hear it, even if this wasn’t the right place. My mother cleared her throat, attempting to keep a smile on her face as people began forming a line around the pews.
“Was that necessary?” she hushed through gritted teeth.
I glanced over at Sandy, and she rolled her eyes before quickly turning away. “Someone had to do it,” I muttered under my breath.
By now, the congregation had started drawing closer with Georgia Hopkins in the lead, wearing a canary yellow dress. As Sandy stepped up first in line, the façade of sorrow appeared on her features as she received each person’s condolences. Anger and disgust boiled within me, but I pushed it away as best as possible. Seeing Georgia’s smiling face helped.
She walked up to me and hugged me tightly. “I just got some fresh pecans shipped to me. I was thinking of making you my famous pecan pie you always liked.” The thought of Georgia’s homemade dessert made my stomach rumble with anticipation.
“That would be amazing,” I replied with a grin, “I could totally go for a pecan pie right now.”
Letting me go, Georgia winked at me. “Done. I’ll make one for your parents, too, so you don’t have to share.”
“Thank you,” I whispered to her softly as she passed.
Once she moved on, I hugged and shook hands with what had to be over a hundred people, all of who I’ve known for most of my life, including some of my old friends from school. There was still that one guy I had yet to see, but then my eyes caught a glimpse of his parents toward the end of the line.
Martha and David McLean.
Martha hadn’t changed a bit. She still had the same dark brown curly hair, only now there were wisps of gray on the sides. Jensen’s father, however, was a different story. David had just a little bit of gray hair on his head, but most of it he’d lost in his chemo treatments. There was still a lot of life in his grayish-blue eyes, though. I’ve visited Oak Island a handful of times over the years and had only seen them . . . not Jensen. Whether it was intentional or not, I didn’t know. I could only imagine how angry Jensen was at me for letting our friendship go. Of course, it was a relief not to see him, but a part of me always hoped I’d run into him somewhere.
Jensen was always away at sea, earning a living for the family business, McLean Charters. When Martha and David finally reached me, Martha burst into tears.
“Oh, Everleigh, we’re so sorry. We found out last night when we got back into town.”
I had managed to control most of my tears until now. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
Martha hugged me. “What happened to her? Was she ill?”
Sniffling, I let her go. “Old age, I guess. That’s what the medical examiner said. As far as we all know, nothing was wrong with her.”
Martha’s eyes glistened with a combination of tears and affection. “We never know when the Lord will call us home.”
She was right; I had seen too many families grieving for loved ones who had left this world too soon. I gave David an encouraging smile. His scalp was sparsely covered with wisps of hair, but he still looked dignified.
“Looking good,” I said to him.
He ran a hand over his head. “Thanks. I miss my hair, though.”
Martha elbowed him in the side, her voice tinged with amusement. “It’s not like you had much before your treatments.”
They were always able to lighten the mood, even in the worst of times; it was one of the reasons why I loved Jensen’s family so much. David enveloped me in an embrace and kissed the top of my head.
“I wish Jensen were here, but he’s at sea. I tried calling to give him the news but never got through.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but all that came out was a sigh as I pulled away from him reluctantly. “It’s okay,” I said softly. “He’s working; I understand. Cell service out in the ocean has to be pretty spotty.”
With reverence in his voice, David spoke up once more. “I don’t know what happened between you two or why you lost touch, but he always asks about you.”
My heart skipped a beat at hearing this, yet I felt hollow knowing how much time apart stretched between us now. It was apparent that Jensen didn’t tell his parents that we slept together and it scared me enough that I ran away from the only guy I ever cared about. I wanted to ask about Jensen to see if he was married and how that was going, but my heart couldn’t take it, not today.
Martha grabbed my hands, clearly picking up on my discomfort as she quickly glared at David. “We’re all so proud of what you’ve become,” she said, focusing back on me with admiration and pride in her eyes. “You’ve worked so hard.”
