Page 5 of Seductive Nights

She dried her hair and dressed. She'd decided on a light pair of gray slacks and a gray and white lightweight top to match. She strode out to the kitchen and heard her sisters cooking and laughing. And tears stung her eyes. Her sister, Holly, saw her first and said, "Oh, Margo, we're sorry we didn't mean to make you cry."

Margo shook her head. "I'm not crying because of you all. I'm crying because the laughter sounded so good, and it feels like it's been ages since I've heard laughter in this house."

Her sisters looked at each other, their faces tense.

Carley moved to her and wrapped her arms around Margo's shoulders.

"Come on, sit down here. Let us feed you. Then we'll all get ready to go and make the arrangements we need to make today." She sat and ate, though she moved her food around on her plate more than anything. But Holly had made them a wonderful omelet and some toast, and it was delicious, but she just really didn't have an appetite right now. She ate what she could.

Josseline got up and began picking up the dishes. Her eyes landed on Margo's. "We're going have to start making phone calls. Do you want to divvy up a list of people for us to call? We can do that today, so it's not a shock when they see the obituary. And speaking of, we're going to need to write an obituary."

She hadn't thought of that. She hadn't thought of any of that. "Yes..." she halted a moment, "I will..." She pulled her phone off the table and started naming off some people who had to be called. Her sisters pulled their phones out as well, and if they had that contact in their phones, they volunteered to call that person. And then she gasped, "Oh my god, I didn't even think of this. Where's Logan's phone? I must have left it at the hospital. There'll be contacts in his phone that I don't have. I should... I should get that. Let me call the hospital."

Carley stopped her with a hand covering her hand. "No, honey, we'll take care of that, okay? We'll take care of that. You take care of calling those you want to call. Go in the office, make yourself comfortable where you're alone, and make your calls. We'll make our calls out here."

"Okay." She gratefully did as she was told because right now, it felt so good to be told what needed to be done. She strolled to the office and sat down to make her first call to their receptionist, Addison, at the real estate office.

Their parents had died a few years ago, about a year apart, so she didn't have parents to call, but they did have aunts, uncles, and cousins. The sisters had all spoken to their significant others last night. So today, it was extended family and friends. Logan's parents had passed several years ago, and he was an only child, but he did have a couple of aunts and uncles she'd call. She made her calls and then made a mental note to ask for Logan's phone later and she would go through his list of contacts and see who else needed to be notified.

Soon her sister, Josseline, tapped on the door of the office. "Hey, Margo, we have to get going now. Our appointment at the funeral home is in fifteen minutes."

"Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize how quickly the time passed today."

"Okay." Josseline waited for her at the door, and as soon as Margo approached, she put her arms around Margo and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry if I stressed you out. I sure don't mean to. I love you."

"I love you too, Josseline."

Josseline sniffed lightly. "Okay, so let's get going. Grab your purse, and we'll take off."

4

Margo and her sisters finished making the arrangements. They stopped at the flower shop to deliver the purple coneflowers, and the people there said they would make Logan a beautiful arrangement for his casket. At the funeral home, she had to answer all sorts of questions. What song did she want to be played at the funeral? What verse did she want spoken? Who were the pallbearers? Oh my god, pallbearers. She never even thought of that. In the end, she opted for no pallbearers because there wasn’t going to be a funeral procession. Logan's casket would be at the front of the church, their little local non-denominational church. They'd both preferred that when they first married. And in the end, he would be left there for the funeral home to take him to be cremated. She wouldn't know who to pick, anyway. And, finally, the funeral would be tomorrow. Quick. Easy, as if they ever were, but her sisters talked her into not waiting since there was little need and no out-of-town relatives to wait for. It was all so surreal.

They went home, and she crashed almost immediately and slept for thirteen hours. Her body and mind finally agreed to let her sleep. When she woke, it was 5 a.m. As she stared at the ceiling for a moment, she felt rested. She got up, stretched, and ambled out to the kitchen to see Carley sitting at the table with a phone in her hand. As soon as she entered the kitchen, Carley set the phone down and smiled at her. "Did you sleep well? You must have been exhausted."

"I did. I slept very well actually. Thank you all for keeping yourselves occupied while you're here."

Carley shook her head. "No, no, don't worry about us. We're fine. We played a couple of friendly games of cards last night, and then we went to bed early. I think we all needed the rest."

"Yes, that's a fact. Have you decided what you'll wear for the funeral?"

Margo shrugged. "I don't know. I have an older black tank dress; it's certainly in good shape. I have black slacks, but it's so ungodly hot out."

"It is. You should wear that black tank dress. It looks good on you. The dress will be cooler than slacks, and let's face it, everyone at the funeral home in the church will be as hot as you are, so I don't think you'll offend anyone. And if you do, who the fuck cares?"

Margo laughed. Carley's blunt response was out of character and so needed.

"That's exactly right. Who the fuck cares? I'll wear what I want to wear, and for the record, Logan loved that dress. He's actually the one who bought it for me when we went to Italy last year."

Carley smiled. Margo sat at the table with her sister and noticed the phone was gone. "Oh, honey, don't let me stop what you were doing with your phone. If you're in the middle of a conversation, please go ahead. I won't be offended."

"No, it's alright. I was just messing around on social media. It doesn't matter."

Her other two sisters shuffled in one by one. They sat at the table, drank their coffee, and chatted. It was nice. Margo took a deep breath. "So, did anybody think to get Logan's phone? I don't know if there are people we should have contacted about today or not."

Carley looked at her sister, placed her hand over hers, and squeezed. "We did, honey. We took care of it."

"Do you mind if I have his phone?"

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