Page 2 of Delivery After Dark (Gansett Island #28)

Sierra Mancini hated funerals, but of course, everyone did.

No one got up in the morning, gave a good stretch and thought, Today would be a great day for a funeral.

Since she’d lost her mother and two much-loved grandparents in the span of eight months a few years back, she’d avoided them and the memories of deep grief whenever possible.

Today, however, she’d pulled herself together to support Billy Weyland’s older brother, Morgan, who’d lost the last of his immediate family when Billy died during Hurricane Ethel.

Sierra had been friends with Billy and had been part of the island-wide effort to support Morgan in the months since the tragic loss of his brother.

For a time, it’d been assumed that Morgan wasn’t going to have a funeral for Billy, but then he’d decided there needed to be something, hence today’s gathering at the island’s nondenominational church, presided over by Pastor Joshua Banks, who’d also been a source of comfort to Morgan since Billy’s body was found in the Salt Pond.

The whole thing was so dreadfully sad that it would’ve been much easier to sit it out, to schedule appointments at Refresh and Renew, her massage studio, to do anything other than sit in the pew next to her friend Duke Sullivan and his fiancée, McKenzie Martin.

The two of them were stupid in love, holding hands even in church.

For a time, she’d had “feelings” about the way they’d fallen madly in love over a couple of weeks in the fall.

Duke had been Sierra’s backup plan. She’d thought that if neither of them ended up with anyone by the time they were forty, maybe they’d try to make a go of it.

Except Duke had harbored no such thoughts, and when she’d shared her vision of the future with him…

Suffice to say the entire exchange with one of her closest friends had been mortifying.

Especially since McKenzie had been waiting for Duke in his bed while she talked to him outside.

Ugh. She couldn’t even think about that night without wanting to cringe. Thankfully, neither Duke nor McKenzie had held Sierra’s drunken confession against her, and they’d gone on as friends as if nothing had ever happened.

But for Sierra, that night had served as a wake-up call.

For one thing, she’d all but stopped drinking after that, limiting herself to an occasional glass of wine to be sociable, but no more whiskey or vodka, which was what had gotten her into trouble that night.

She’d also decided to get real about her love life and stop looking for reasons to avoid men and relationships and everything that went with them.

Over the years, she’d been on a lot of first dates, a few second and third dates and even dated one guy for a month before he got tired of being “stuck on an island” and set out for more exciting parts.

That disappointment had been followed by a go-nowhere relationship with Kyle, one of the deckhands on the ferries.

Was it any wonder she’d become bitter about all things dating and men and was sick of looking for something she was probably never going to find?

In addition to cutting back on alcohol, she’d been listening to self-help books while she worked, hoping to find the secret to a happy single life in one of them.

So far, the answers remained elusive, but she wasn’t giving up.

If she was going to be by herself for the rest of her life, she was going to find a way to be content in that life, even as everyone around her was blissfully in love, pregnant and raising kids—or planning to be soon.

Not that she was dying to be married or anything like that.

However, it would be nice to have someone to hang out with after work, someone who was hers and hers alone.

That wouldn’t suck, as long as it was the right guy and not another in a string of noncommittal idiots who were looking for a mother, not a partner.

Was it too much to ask to find a grown-up man who knew who he was and what he was about and wasn’t looking to her to take care of him or fix all his problems for him? She’d found that, yes, it was too much to ask.

There’d been an outbreak of love in her group of friends, and she’d gotten to see Duke so happy with McKenzie, as well as her friend Jace Carson with his love, Cindy Lawry, and even Dr. Kevin McCarthy and his wife, Chelsea, who were expecting their second child together…

Each of them had taken enormous risks with their hearts and well-being and had hit the jackpot with amazing partners.

She wanted what they had and had hoped to find that special connection for herself but wasn’t willing to leave Gansett to make it happen.

That was the last thing she wanted to do.

She loved her island home and had a nice business running the only massage studio, but the lure of true love had her considering her options as another long, lonely winter loomed before her.

Sierra was fine during the madness that invaded the island in the spring and went on until well into October.

But it was this time of year, when everything slowed down, that the loneliness set in, and she expected that to be worse this year without Duke to hang out with the way they used to when he was single, too.

Sierra knew a lot of people who’d found their person on Gansett, so that gave her hope that she might find someone right there.

But if not, she wasn’t willing to shake up her whole life, even if it meant finding her soul mate.

No, if he was out there, he needed to come to her, because she wasn’t going anywhere.

Before she’d had a front-row seat to Duke falling so hard for McKenzie, she would’ve scoffed at the notion of soul mates.

Whatever that was. But now she’d seen it and felt the palpable energy between the two of them, and damn it, she wanted some of that for herself, even as she acknowledged the unlikelihood of finding it on a tiny remote island miles off the coast of the smallest state. What were the odds?

Not great…

She was stirred out of her thoughts when the service began with a rousing rendition of “How Great Thou Art,” sung by Julia Lawry, bringing back childhood memories for Sierra of going to church with Nana Ann, who’d had a beautiful singing voice.

Tears filled her eyes as she remembered holding hands with her nana and singing along to songs with familiar tunes, including “Amazing Grace,” which had been a particular favorite of her nana’s.

Julia’s voice was so beautiful, it took Sierra’s breath away.

Pastor Banks led the congregation through a series of opening prayers. Some of Billy’s friends from the gym did Bible readings. It was almost comical to see the muscular dudes, decked out in poorly fitted suits as they attempted to show decorum and respect for their late friend.

Billy’s friend Niall Fitzgerald performed “Danny Boy,” one of Billy’s favorites of the songs the Irishman regularly performed at the Beachcomber.

Sierra had heard that Billy was cremated and that his ashes were contained in the urn on the altar, giving the whole concept of “dust to dust” new meaning.

She was glad no one could hear her thoughts as she tried to pay attention to the lessons to be found in the readings and in Pastor Banks’s comforting words.

As always, her ADD kicked in, and her mind wandered in a thousand different directions.

“Are you okay?” Duke whispered.

Sierra nodded. “I’m fine.” That was a lie, as it was impossible to sit through a funeral without thinking of the funerals for her mother and grandparents.

The emotions were like muscle memory, built into her wiring now, even if the loss of Billy wasn’t as difficult for her as those had been.

He’d still been a friend and far too young to die, which was the hardest part of this for her.

He’d been only a few years older than her, and his death had served as yet another reminder that life wasn’t a dress rehearsal.

When Morgan stood and walked to the lectern, his wavy dark hair combed into submission and a black suit showcasing his broad shoulders, Sierra sat up a little straighter, eager to hear what he had to say.