For the Best (29 page)

Skylar must have sensed my desire to flee.
She looped her arm through mine. Then I realized she was pulling me
forward to do the custom of shoveling one mound of dirt into the
lowered casket. I whispered goodbye to my brother one last
time.

Hanna

We didn’t go to the burial, opting to return
in a couple of days.

“What you said, the message you played… it
felt like Trevor was with us,” Della somberly stated.

“He would have been deliriously happy when
he saw the arrangement you chose.” Clay smiled half-heartedly.
“Nothing sad about yellow Gerber daisies with a SpongeBob doll
peeking out.”

“Thanks.” I hugged each of them.

Ansel and I broke from the group. Della and
Clay were going back to get Keb at a sitter’s.

“You okay?” Ansel asked placing his arm
around me as he walked.

“He was like my brother.”

“I know.” He hugged me to his side. “Did you
get to talk to Tanner?”

“Not really.” We sat down on the steps,
shoulder to shoulder.

Tanner

A nor’easter was blowing. The winds were
brutal, the cold as bone chilling as Chicago. The surf turned sudsy
and whipped from water to shore like bubble bath. Large white, sea
gulls huddled in masses never taking flight. I walked to the edge
of the old boardwalk as night overtook the skies. The trash
receptacles were full and the discards whipped along the boardwalk
to the parking lot behind me. A little boy ran up and down the
weathered walkway, bouncing from the replaced planks to the old
boards like he was playing hopscotch. The vegetation that was green
and pungent in the spring was bitten by frost, waiting for warmth
to return.

I thought about my future, one without
Hanna, one without Trev.
The people I loved the most I had taken
for granted, now they were gone.
I made a decision. I would end
my relationship with Skylar. Go back to school, get a job I was
meant for, and figure out what was for the best.

Hanna

I
reached for Ansel’s hand. Caught on a wave of emotions I
contemplated how to tell him the news. The initial panic and fear
had manifested into happiness. I rested my head on his shoulder. “I
love you.” I sighed.

“
I’m easy to love,” he
teased. “I love you too.” He kissed my head the warmth of his
breath calming my concerns.

I
stood, moving a few steps below him I put my arms around his
neck.
“You are easy to love!” I teasingly confirmed. On a
deep breath, I gave him the news, “I’m pregnant.”

He froze for a millisecond before his face
lit up, a smile that couldn’t possibly be faked. He cupped my
cheeks, kissed me with enthusiasm, and followed a smooching trail
down me until he lifted my shirt and blew a raspberry on my
stomach. “You just made me the happiest man in the world.”

Laughing I managed to say, “I was scared you
were going to be mad.”

“Are you kidding?” He pulled me onto his lap
and held me tight.

“What should we do?”

“We should expand and modify your apartment
to accommodate the three of us. We should call my dad. We should
make love in celebration.” He took my hand. “We should get
married.”

I kissed him gently and said, “I was hoping
for the best. I think I got him.”

LJ Scar is my pseudonym
and alter-ego. She lives hillside in a tiny cottage that has a view
of the mountains and the ocean on a sprawling spread of land where
all the people, dogs, and things she loves are within reach. She
makes a living off the results of her imagination. She is a morning
person who has great hair even after a rough night of sleep. She
loves to exercise and doesn't love junk food.
Nah...but someday. In the meantime, I live outside Louisville,
Kentucky with my husband, a deceptively smart old border
collie/husky mix, and a loving but troublemaking English
Pointer/lab mix -both are rescues. I try to think up vivid
locations based off places I've lived or vacationed and dream up
romances and complications from observing strangers.
I LOVE TO READ! I write what I’d like to read, love stories that
don’t always have the ending you expect about people who seem real,
get hurt and get back up!
If you have read any of my books, I would very much appreciate if
you would leave a rating or review on the website where you
purchased it. Some of the online book retailers won’t just allow
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put in what you thought – don’t be shy!
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Please visit your favorite ebook retailer to
discover other books by LJ Scar:

What Happened In
Between

Solitude
Interrupted

Eternal She
Remains
(
Until Our Forever Ends
)