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In any case, she saw a little sadness in them.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied evenly. “I need to see it.”
Willow wasn’t sure where Montgomery was buried, but there was a cemetery she’d pass sometimes on her bicycle, so she decided to try that one.
“You could be anywhere in this place,” she said when they arrived. “Or not even here at all. You could have been buried at sea. We should get out of here. Have you tried pizza before?”
She hated cemeteries, and was actually hoping Montgomery would change his mind.
“I’m buried here,” he said solemnly. “I just know it.”
He walked briskly through the iron gates and didn’t slow down until he reached the older part of the graveyard—where the tombstones were worn down and cracked from age. Even though it was the middle of the day, Willow felt a bone-deep coldness creep over her as a cloud moved over the sun, and a chilly, biting wind sent crimson leaves past their heads.
Montgomery slowly wandered between the graves, checking the names. For a moment, Willow thought he’d give up soon, but then he paused in front of a large headstone, and bowed his head.
“Is it you?” Willow asked, feeling more than spooked out.
“No,” he said with a melancholy chuckle. “It’s Sam. He married his sweetheart from New York after all.”
Willow joined Montgomery in front of the grave and read the inscription on the stone.
Sam and June Williams
Beloved parents
“There’s no date,” Willow said. “I wonder why.”
She looked to Montgomery for an answer, but he had already moved on and stopped abruptly in front of a grave only a few plots down. The headstone was much smaller and unadorned.
Montgomery Harland
1881 - 1912
The man in front of her stood as stone still as the grave itself, and if not for the wind rustling his hair, he’d look just like a statue.
“This is more than a little creepy,” she said. “Are you okay?”
He sighed. “How do I even know if my bones are in there? If I’m standing right here resurrected, then my coffin must be empty.”
“Your bones are in there,” Willow said. “I can feel them.”
This was one of the reasons Willow hated cemeteries. Corpses resonated under her feet, like clanky windchimes. It wasn’t as if they called to her or even tremored in need of rest. She just could sense them simply existing. People and trees and inanimate objects were no different. Her body could feel anything and was always aware of the proximity of an object or person. But the bones creeped her out almost as much as a few living guys she’d met.
Montgomery didn’t make her feel like that, even though logic said he should have. The truth was, Montgomery made her feel quite the opposite of creeped out.
She really knew how to pick ‘em, didn’t she?
He looked at her then with a peace about him Willow could only describe as some sort of closure. His eyes glittered, and the way he looked at her, she’d have considered it romantic if it weren’t for the setting. For the first time, she openly admitted to herself she wanted Montgomery to kiss her. But as much as she wanted him, making out with a guy standing on his own grave was a hard pass.
She held his hand as a consolation and gazed up at him waiting for the okay to finally go home.
“What?” he said, looking at her puzzled expression. “I’m not crying again, am I?”
“No,” she said with a little chuckle. “I’ve just never seen eyes so incredibly green before. They’re like… two Midori martinis. I know that’s a weird comparison.”
Montgomery’s face turned ashen and his brows crinkled.
