Page 95

Edith settled into a more comfortable pose and braided her fingers together. “Your momma hasn’t texted me yet today.” She smiled at the headstone. “I’m sure she will. I always send her pictures, and then we talk. She’ll call.”

She sat there for another minute, and then the sound of footsteps met her ears. Finn came down the row, his hands tucked into his pockets. “Okay?” he asked.

Edith wanted to tell him to leave, but the words wouldn’t come out. She wasn’t even sure why she felt like that. So he came closer, and then he settled onto the grass beside her. He said nothing, and Edith didn’t hate the presence of him beside her.

At the same time, uncomfortable prickles ran up and down her arms, making her chilled despite the summer September weather. She didn’t know what to say now, and it almost felt like Levi was there, eyeing Finn. Like he knew Finn had kissed her, and he didn’t like it.

Maybe I’m not ready to move on, Edith thought, and she pulled in a breath.

“You okay?” Finn reached over and took her hand. “Did you get your pictures?”

“Not yet,” she managed to whisper. So many other things crowded inside her thoughts and her mouth, but she swallowed everything back.

“Want me to take them?”

Edith took a moment, and then she said, “Yeah, sure.” She tugged her phone free and handed it to him. She did her best to smile, and Finn took a picture of her, and then one of her and the headstone.

He handed her phone back, and Edith took in a long breath and then released it slowly. All at once, her thoughts cleared. “Finn?”

“Hm?”

“I—” She took another breath. “I think I need to be alone.”

“All right,” he said. “I’ll just wait in the truck.”

She turned toward him. “No, I mean, I’m not sure I’m ready to be…not alone.”

He’d started getting to his feet, and he finished and looked down at her. “I’m not sure I’m following.”

She gestured to Levi’s headstone. “I just need to take a break.” She looked back at him. “A break to just think for a minute.”

“You want to break up?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to break up.”

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“I just need to be alone. I need some space.” Edith didn’t know how else to say it. “I just want to be alone.”

“I’ll wait in the truck,” he said quietly.

Edith wasn’t sure he got what she was saying, but she let him go. She wasn’t even sure what she was saying. She knew she just wanted to be here by herself, and bringing Finn had been a mistake she hadn’t anticipated.

A while later, she got herself to her feet and made her way back to the parking lot. Finn said nothing as he drove her back to Coyote Pass, and when they arrived, Edith looked over to him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll call you, okay?” With that, she slipped out of the truck and headed around the house. Her destination loomed ahead of her, and she ran the last few steps to the she-shed.

Inside, she gasped for air, and she locked the door as she slid down it to the floor. She hadn’t cried much at the cemetery, but now that she had some privacy and she’d seen Levi, the floodgates opened.

She’d sworn she wasn’t going to do this this year. She thought with Finn there, she wouldn’t be as emotional. But the pain and anguish of losing Levi overcame her again and again, as if she’d just lost him an hour ago.

Edith had managed to move to the couch with Otto, Frankie, and Gumbo by the time Alex pounded on the door and demanded she unlock it. She looked at it for a full minute before she could move her body, and when she opened the door, she fell into her brother’s arms.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “Hey, hey, hey, what is happening?”

Edith didn’t have to answer him, because he knew what had happened. He’d been here through it all. He’d given up his spare bedroom and his house for Levi. “I can’t do this,” she gasped. “I can’t do this alone.”

“Then why did you send Finn away?” Alex asked, and Edith pulled back.