Page 186 of The Spider & the Storm

Her shoulders dropped with an exhale, and she opened her eyes to pin me with her gaze. “I think heknew. Like, I-I think he knew he was going to die. Not necessarily when or how or-or-or anything like that, but … heknew. And I didn’t realize it at the time, you know? Because your mind doesn’t want to go there, but looking back, I see it. All these … little things he was doing, things he’d say … giving me that letter for you … God, do I sound crazy?”

“I will see you again.”

“No, you won’t, Charlie.”

I dropped my gaze from hers and eyed the letter in my hand. “Not crazy,” I muttered.

She blew out another silvery breath and waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing the idea. Like it was too insane to believe. Or maybe she just didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“Anyway, I’ll let you go,” she said before wrapping me up in what had to have been the two hundredth hug she’d given me since Stormy and I had reluctantly decided it was time to head home. “I love you, Charlie. And please,pleasecome back soon. Come back whenever you want. It would be good for the boys. And it’d be good for me too. We can go to the cemetery if you want, to visit your parents and Luke and—”

“I love you too,” I cut her off, unsure I could hear any more without breaking down again. “And I will. I’ll come back soon.”

She smiled against my chest. “You know, Christmasiscoming.”

I sighed and nodded. “I’ll be here.”

“Good.” She patted my back and stepped away, glancing toward the car. “Both of you, okay?”

“Okay.”

An overhead lamppost caught the teasing glint in her eye. “Seriously though, Charlie, you’d better marry that woman.”

I rolled my eyes and felt my cheeks heat despite the late November chill. “Oh God …”

“No, come on! You obviously love her, she loves you, and you are absolutely perfect for each other. You might think you have plenty of time to spare for stuff like that, but believe me, you don’t. There’s never enough.Never.”

The moment was sobering, and I could only nod as I said, “I know.”

She offered one last smile before taking a step back and turning around, heading toward the house that was no longer mine.

“I mean it, Charlie!” she called, glancing over her shoulder. “Stop wasting time! And if you don’t, I wouldn’t put it past your brother to come haunt you until you do!”

I laughed in reply and nothing more. Because what Melanie didn’t know—whatnobodyknew—was that I now believed he already was.

***

It was after midnight by the time we returned to the cemetery, and what a long day it had been. A long, exhausting, emotionally taxing day.

The moment I locked the gate behind us and returned to the car, Max called to say hi and ask how my little getaway had been. I started to say it was okay, good, or some other basic, blanket answer that would barely touch the surface, but then I thought better of it and considered that, you know, maybe Iwantedto talk to Max. Maybe I wanted to be his friend the way Ivan was my friend.

Without allowing myself the time to reconsider, I replied, “It's a long story, and I'd tell you if we weren't exhausted.”

“Ah, I get it, man.”

I swallowed and blew out a deep breath as we turned to drive up the hill toward our little stone cottage. “Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow night, if you aren’t—”

“Sounds good, man. I'll have the coffee ready,” he replied, and I swore I could hear the smile in his voice.

It was one I returned. “Make mine decaf.”

“You got it, brother.”

Brother.Fuck.

Stormy parked the car as I dropped my eyes to the sealed envelope in my lap. In the darkness, I couldn't quite make out my name scrawled in Luke's shitty handwriting, but I knew it was there. I could sense it, the bold black pen taunting me with a plea to read the words inside. I would, but not yet. Whenever I was ready … or gave myself no choice but to be ready.

I wished Max a good night and hung up. Stormy glanced at me, and though it was dark, I could see the details of her soft smile.

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