Until Next Time Read Online Free Page B

cripple them. The sting of loss was there, but shadowing that was the love they’d had and the knowledge that that love would blossom even further when they saw them again. Death wasn’t an end for them. It was a new beginning.
    Quinn loosened his tie as her car sped off in the distance. If dealing with death was Piper’s problem, he’d like to help her understand that it didn’t mean destruction. There were ways to cope. With love. Because even though death was the greatest unknown, love was stronger than anything.
    As a man who had faced death himself, lost his color vision in one eye, had to give up the career he’d always dreamed of, and had lost his own wife, he knew what it took to press forward. To not let life get the best of you. His family had been his rock, teaching him that life, while painful, was a journey more than anything. He knew he could embrace what he’d been given and trudge forward to make it better, or he could crumble and be nothing. Feel nothing. That wasn’t him. So no matter what he was dealt, no matter what pain or roadblock was dropped in his path, he shoved it all aside. To love. To live.

Chapter Three
    Piper looked across her glistening desk in her private office at Mr. Ryan. He was looking down at his clasped hands. “I’ve got some bad news,” she said quietly. “I’m afraid that all the National Cemeteries in our state are closed to new internments.”
    His gaze rolled up slowly. “But that means…”
    “That she’ll need to be laid to rest in a private cemetery.”
    He looked past Piper, out the window behind her. “My VA benefits don’t cover a private cemetery.”
    “That’s correct. The plot and opening and closing of the grave, along with all the other cost will be your responsibility if she’s put in a private cemetery.”
    Mr. Ryan’s eyes slid closed. “How much will it cost?”
    Piper held her breath, hating this moment for him, hating that she had to give him this terrible news. She blew the breath out carefully and gave him the total.
    His eyes began to leak sprinkles of tears. But they didn’t open, and he didn’t say a word. The sprinkles became a flood, and he covered his face with his hands. Losing someone was hard enough, Piper knew that firsthand. And after her night of dreaming about her mother and father, their love and how it had been taken from them so young, she felt Mr. Ryan’s pain in a way she hadn’t allowed herself to in a very long time. But more than the emotional toll, there was a financial cost that some people couldn’t handle.
    “Mr. Ryan?” she said carefully. Getting up, she walked around the desk and put her hand on his shoulder. She gave it a squeeze and reached for the tissues with her free hand. He sagged in his chair and dropped his hands. She handed him the tissue.
    He blinked, a waterfall still streaking down his wrinkled cheeks. “What about cremation?”
    A knot formed in her throat. “The cost is significantly less.” She did the math quickly in her head, giving Mr. Ryan another estimate.
    “Yes,” he sighed. “That’s quite different.”
    Piper knew Mr. Ryan didn’t simply want his wife to be cremated in order to be by his side even in death, he couldn’t afford it any other way. That gave another sting to her hardened heart.
    “Can I think about it?” he asked, his hands trembling.
    “Of course.” Clamping down on her emotions, she gave him a soft smile and took his hand. It was a simple gesture, one that made clients feel more at ease. Piper herself didn’t usually allow the contact to affect her. But today—today, somehow it did. And she didn’t like it. Again she shook off the feeling.
    After a quick squeeze, she released his hand. “In the meantime, your wife will be in good hands here.”
    Mr. Ryan stood. His old voice wavered as he spoke. “You know, I would have loved for Mary to meet you. She loved people who had a knack for kindness.”
    Piper gave another warm smile. Kindness was