Chapter 79 Arrangements

The funeral home smells like polished wood and lilies.

Too clean. Too quiet. Like grief has to be contained within the walls and can’t spill onto the floor.

I step inside with Gideon at my side, Preston just behind us, Max and Jocelyn trailing in with an energy that doesn’t belong in a place like this, but somehow, I’m grateful for it. Their noise keeps this from feeling like a tomb already.

The d