Best Friend's Brother Read Online Free Page A

service. I finally
had to get up and go outside. I really felt like I couldn’t breathe. Dad
followed me out and watched me like he was afraid I’d come unraveled. Maybe I
had…hell, I didn’t know. We didn’t go back inside. I could hear her uncle
talking about her and then he dissolved into tears too. It was all just too
awful.
    When the service was over, we followed the
procession to the graveyard. The same picture sat on a tripod next to the
casket…which sat next to a six foot deep hole in the ground. It was almost an
obscene sight. The only thing that made the graveside services any better than
the ones in the chapel was that I could at least breathe. The air was crisp…it
was late winter, soon to be spring. Emma loved the spring; it was her favorite
time of year. Spring didn’t come soon enough this time for my poor Emma.
    When they lowered her into the ground…as if the day
hadn’t been heart-wrenching enough, her mother’s legs buckled and her knees
sank into the sodden earth. She wouldn’t let Ian and her husband help her up . She just sat there like that and watched her baby girl
be lowered to her final resting place, sobbing silently and making my heart
feel like someone was reaching into my chest and squeezing it with their fist. It got worse when Ian and her father got on
their knees next to her. Ian’s shoulders were straight…he wasn’t shaking and
didn’t look like he was crying like his parents, but he was right there with
them. God, I hated this whole thing. It felt almost voyeuristic to be standing
here and witnessing their heartache. My dad stood next to me the whole time and
gripped onto my arm. At the point when Emma’s mom collapsed, he was the only
thing holding me up.
    When it was finally all over…we were told by the
pastor that there would be a “reception” at Emma’s parent’s house. We got into
the car and Dad said, “Would you rather skip the reception and see her parents
later? You look so tired, honey.”
      “I am tired,
and I’d rather not go. But…I have to, Dad. She was my best friend. I have to be
there.”
    He nodded and drove me over there. When we got
there, Emma’s Aunt Karen and Uncle Brian were greeting people at the door. Dad
and I had brought a cake. When I looked around at all of the tables of food, I
wondered how they would ever eat it all. Some of the “guests” seemed to be
eating, but not many. Dad was talking to a friend of his and I said hello to a
few people from school, but it was all just so damned surreal that I could
hardly stand it. I felt like I was crawling out of my own skin. I saw Emma’s
parents and Ian finally without a crowd around them and I figured I would go
over and talk to them and then I would probably tell Dad I was ready to go. I
walked over and as I got close I could see Ian’s eyes on me. He had the same
eyes as Emma, they were dark blue and they looked so good with their dark hair
and pretty skin. I’d never noticed before that Ian had the same flawless skin
as his sister. I actually hadn’t seen him more than a handful of times over the
years. He did his own thing…unless someone in the family needed him, and then
he was there, like he was now.
    “Alexa!” Her mom saw me and suddenly I was wrapped up in her arms and then her dads, and
then Ian hugged me too. I broke down as soon as her mom touched me. I once
again tried to imagine what she was going through and couldn’t. Emma and her
mom had been close…it was another thing I envied her. Her dad was crying too.
It was harder to watch a grown man fall apart, I think. He looked so broken.
Ian was stoic. His eyes looked lost and sad…but he wasn’t crying. I didn’t see
him cry at the service at all. I wondered if he cried in private, or if he was
just that damned tough.
    “I’m so sorry,” I said. My eyes were burning with
tears and I felt like I was going to throw up again. I didn’t know what to say.
What the hell was I supposed to say?
    “We’re