More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [84]
Finally, she walked over to the ovens where Natalie was checking on a large pastry of some kind. Lizzy stood next to Nat and the two women seemed to confer about the pastry before easing it back into the oven. After, Lizzy turned to Nat and embraced the younger woman tightly, the emotion clear on the faces of the two women.
Emotion that he had no right to be spying on.
He shut down his PDA and looked at his watch. Another hour until the memorial service. Another hour until he saw her, up close and personal.
What would he say? That he was sorry about Dani? He was, but that sorrow was tempered by the anger surrounding Mitch’s death and a sense of incompleteness when he thought that maybe, just maybe, Dani hadn’t been the one responsible.
And of course, Dani’s death had just created another wrong to be righted. He considered whether he would be the one to take up that wrong and see it avenged, whether leaving here and going on that quest would bring him peace. Or was it just another windmill he was tilting at?
Nagging doubt chased him as he showered and dressed for the service. He met Lucia and Walker down in the lobby and they paused at a flower shop on the way to purchase a mixed bouquet, one filled with the colors and flowers he recalled from Lizzy’s garden.
Funny how vividly the memory was of those things Lizzy. The flowers. The food. The way she looked jogging along the shore and how she could pound the hell out of the heavy bag down in her cellar. The slight, but noticeable aroma of plumeria that clung to her at night, after she had finished in the kitchen and indulged in the luxury of moisturizing her hands with the lotion from Kate’s shop.
It was crazy to be here, he thought as he reached the entry to the restaurant grounds. He hesitated at the stone wall, wondering if it was wise to come here, to invade her space at such a personal time.
“Aidan?” Lucia asked and laid a hand on the arm of his dark charcoal-gray suit, the one he had worn to convince Lizzy to hire him. The one that had unfortunately already seen another funeral. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m not sure I—”
“She would want you here,” Walker added and grasped his shoulder in a reassuring gesture.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said out loud, almost as if to convince himself. It was the right thing, but also the painful thing. The thing that would add yet another memory that he could dredge up whenever…
He missed her.
With a deep sigh, he pushed forward, walked through the open door of the restaurant and to the back of the room so as to not call attention to himself.
Lizzy was at the front, bending down and talking to two blue-haired ladies in the first row. She was dressed all in black, in a simple dress that hung loose on her body. She seemed to have lost weight in just a few days.
Dark smudges beneath her eyes were a stark contrast to the paleness of her face. Her rich brown hair, shot through with auburn and blond highlights, was pulled back from her face with a black scarf. Her smile when it came, was forced. A toothless slash of her lips into a thin line. A brittle smile that looked ready to shatter.
He winced for her, knowing how hard it must be.
A few more people straggled in and a priest sitting in the front row rose and motioned for everyone to take their seats. He was young, barely older than Lizzy. A fact that was confirmed when he began his speech.
“I want to thank you all for coming to celebrate Dani’s life. Lizzy asked me to speak first since, at one time, I fancied myself marrying Dani before I got an offer from someone else,” he said, prompting a round of chuckles.
He went on to describe the Dani he knew. A vibrant, loving woman who was quick to anger, but equally as quick to apologize. A woman who stood up for what she believed to be right and wasn’t afraid to take action when necessary.
After he finished, he asked others to share their memories