Beyond the Point(109)

“I’m Captain Huerta,” he said, offering his hand to shake Dani’s. “Mrs. Nesmith’s casualty assistance officer.” He checked his watch. “We had an appointment at ten. Do you mind if I come in?”

Ten minutes later, having rustled Hannah out of her bed, Dani sat next to her at the dining room table. Margaret Nesmith had arrived just after Captain Huerta, and seeing one another for the first time, she and Hannah embraced while the rest of them looked on in silence, willing themselves invisible. Dani knew she wasn’t family—in some ways she didn’t have a right to sit at this table. But Hannah had asked Dani to stay by her side, and now she was grateful she’d agreed. Seated on the same side of the table as Captain Huerta, Margaret Nesmith wore her dark hair in a low ponytail. Like Hannah’s, her face and lips were the color of the third casket Captain Huerta had offered as an option: eggshell white.

Hannah held the binder full of pictures of caskets in her hands. One page displayed a cherrywood box, and the next page, black onyx. She flipped through the pages blankly, like she couldn’t see anything at all.

Dani stared from the binder up to the face of Captain Huerta seated across from them. She was grateful that he hadn’t tried to hurry Hannah along, although Dani could tell from the other binders in his bag that there were many other decisions to be made. Decisions no twenty-four-year-old should ever have to make. Choosing the coffin. Choosing the flowers. A location for the burial. Hannah looked at Dani, her eyes pleading for help.

“I think this one is beautiful,” Dani said, pointing to an all-wood casket near the front.

Tim’s mother lifted her chin to see. Dani turned the binder so she could see it more directly. “I like that,” Margaret said. “It’s classic. Like Tim.”

Dani watched Hannah tense up at that statement, and knew exactly why. Tim wasn’t classic. In Hannah’s eyes, he was wild and willing to break the rules and so different from the parents who’d raised him. But Dani could see that all the fight had gone out of her.

“Okay.” Hannah pushed the binder back to Captain Huerta. “We’ll go with that one.”

Dani watched her take a sip of water and place the glass back on the coaster. Every motion slow, purposeful, and pained.

“Can I ask a question?” Margaret Nesmith began, her voice a respectful whisper. Her eyes filled with tears and she wiped a tissue under her nose. “Where is he? Where have they taken him?”

The question hung in the air for several moments, awkward and cumbersome, like a piece of furniture too large to fit through a door. Dani saw Hannah clench her jaw.

“Your son’s remains are at the mortuary,” Captain Huerta explained. “His remains are viewable for identification purposes only. That’s something we’ll need to schedule for you, Hannah. But more importantly, right now, we need to choose a date for the funeral. Do you have a day in mind?”

“December fifth.” Hannah and her mother-in-law said it at the same time. He nodded at both of them, then wrote down the date.

“And location?”

“Springfield,” Tim’s mother answered. “Maryland. Our hometown.”

A moment of silence passed, full of awkwardness and tension as thick as fog. Dani turned to Hannah. It was time for her friend to break this next piece of news. Last night, Hannah had told Dani that she didn’t want Tim to be buried in Maryland. The only thing she’d decided about the funeral—the only thing Hannah seemed to care about at all—was that it took place where Tim would have wanted it to be.

“Actually, Margaret, we’re waiting to hear back from Arlington National Cemetery,” Dani explained, speaking on Hannah’s behalf.

The elder Mrs. Nesmith looked confused and sad, her blue eyes swimming. “Hannah, we have a family plot in Maryland. We’ve already made arrangements.”

Captain Huerta closed his binder. “Perhaps that’s enough decision making for one day.”

SEVERAL HOURS LATER, Dani sat in the living room, quietly listening to the terse conversation happening in the kitchen. She’d texted Wendy earlier that it wasn’t a good time to come over, but that if she and Mark had any connections at Arlington National Cemetery, they’d appreciate their making some calls. Dani had asked Emily to write Tim’s obituary and had called Eric to see if he could help make a list of the forms that Hannah would have to fill out for Tim’s life insurance to kick in. The amount of bureaucracy that came after a death was enough to make your head spin. Dani wanted to shield Hannah from as much of that as possible.

“Maybe this isn’t the best time to have this conversation,” Hannah’s mother was saying in the kitchen.

Tim’s mother tried to whisper, but her voice came out louder than she’d likely intended. “Well, when is the best time? He’s been gone for two weeks and I think—”

“Well, Margaret, Hannah . . . she just got home,” said Lynn, trying to tread lightly.

When Dani opened her eyes, Avery had walked into the room, holding her keys. She’d taken the second half of the day off and had arrived back from work.

“I’m thinking we should take Hannah on a drive,” Avery said quietly.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Dani replied. And with that, the two of them called Hannah out of the kitchen, and led her out the door, the banner still hanging from the ceiling behind them. Welcome Home.