For You (The 'Burg #1)(145)

The humor in Craig’s eyes died, he swallowed and nodded again. Feb reached out and grabbed his hand, gave it a squeeze and smiled at him. Craig smiled back.

Colt put a hand to her waist and saw the Harrises, standing alone up by the closed casket, watching them.

Colt was pleased they’d chosen a closed casket. It was an occupational hazard that he’d seen more death than most and it was never pretty. He didn’t get the idea of willfully exposing a dead body before burial. Dead was dead, it was unattractive, no matter who did the makeup or what outfit you chose and how much satin lined the casket. Colt thought viewing a dead body at a funeral home was one, last, but forced, indignity and he hated it.

“Baby, the Harrises,” he murmured to Feb.

She looked up at him and tipped her head to the side before she looked back at Craig and said something which stated her meaning clearly, “We’ll see you in J&J’s?”

“You bet,” Craig replied quietly.

Colt gave him a nod which Craig returned and they moved away through the milling, murmuring live bodies to the Harrises. While they did this, Feb caught people’s eyes. Automatically and unknowingly assuming the mantle of Princess of Hearts, she smiled small and nodded, communicating like her mother, sharing understanding and peace with her eyes.

“Mr. and Mrs. Harris,” Colt said as they arrived.

He shook Mr. Harris’s hand, gave Mrs. Harris his cheek while Feb introduced herself and kissed them both on the cheek.

Then she moved into him, close again but she slid her arm around his waist and plastered herself to his side. Not done with her show to the Harrises that Amy didn’t die in vain, she turned into him and rested her hand on his stomach. He reciprocated the gesture, sliding an arm along her waist.

Then Feb started talking in “we’s”.

“We’re very sorry about Amy,” she told them, “truly.”

Mrs. Harris was taking in Feb’s hand at his stomach while Mr. Harris murmured, “Thank you.”

“She… well, she was lovely,” Feb went on, “and very sweet. We both liked her. It’s… we just don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing to say during times like these, dear,” Mrs. Harris replied.

“We want you to know, you and Amy, you’re in our thoughts,” Feb continued talking for the both of them as if they were a unit, one mind, one body, and Mrs. and Mr. Harris both nodded.

She caught sight of someone approaching and finished, “We’ll leave you to your guests.”

“Thank you for coming, Alexander, February,” Mr. Harris said.

The return of Colt and Feb firmly established for the Harrises, Colt led Feb away.

When they were out of earshot, Colt asked, “You okay?”

“Feel stupid,” she muttered. “What do you say?”

“What you said.”

Her head tipped back to look up at him, she gazed at him a moment and then she smiled. It wasn’t big, but it was enough and Colt decided, if they were still watching, he’d give the Harrises a bonus. He stopped Feb, bent his head and touched his mouth to hers. When he lifted his head, she curled into him and gave him a hug, a hug that wasn’t for the Harrises, it was for Colt and Colt alone. He hated being there and he hated why he was there but he sure as f**k liked that hug.

Beyond them, standing by herself, Colt saw Julie McCall. She wasn’t quick enough to avert her eyes before he saw her taking them in, avarice and hunger plain as day on her face.

Colt also saw an end to her days more bitter than even Amy’s. Amy hadn’t asked for her hand to be pulled away and reshuffled and couldn’t do much with the cards she’d eventually been dealt. But Julie McCall kept calling for new cards instead of playing the ones she already had. Good or bad, she wanted more, not understanding she should raise, call or bluff, because the next hand was coming her way and it could be a hand where she won big. Instead, by asking for new cards, she kept giving it all away.

“Colt?” Feb called and he saw she was looking up at him, he was still in her arms and she twisted her neck and looked over her shoulder to see Julie slide into a seat. “Who’s that?”

“Friend of Amy’s.”

“You know her?”

“Yeah, she found Amy.”

Feb studied Julie. “I’ve seen her around.”

“Probably, she works at County Bank.”

“Oh,” Feb muttered then she looked at Colt and asked, “Do you want to say hey?”

“Nope.”

Feb tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth to speak but Colt kept talking. “She asked me out after she found Amy’s body.”

Feb’s eyes grew twice their size, she leaned into him and whispered, “What?”

“No joke.”

“She asked you out?”

“Yep.”

“After she found Amy?”

“Not right after, she waited about half an hour.”

Feb’s mouth dropped open and she looked back at Julie. “Wow, Amy really didn’t chose friends very good.”

“Nope.”

Feb’s gaze came back to him. “What’d you say when she asked you out?”

“She asked if I’d meet her for a drink later and I said I’d be with my girlfriend.”