“You want to know something?” I muttered to him.
He stood upright and looked at me. “What?”
My tears fell. “I’ve cried myself into dehydration multiple times since I got here on Friday.”
Daven laughed at me and dug out a Kleenex packet from his back pocket. He took a piece of tissue out of the packet and handed it to me. I accepted it with a raised brow, and it caused him to laugh. “I’ve two kids, I need tissues and wet wipes on me at all times.”
I laughed too and wiped my cheeks and under my eyes.
“So, you got home on Friday?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, but it feels like I’ve been here a hell of a lot longer. I think it’s the reason I’m back that has me so messed up.”
“I’m sorry about your uncle, Lane,” Daven said and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “I met him down the pub a few times after I got off work. He was a great guy. I went to his funeral, and I would have spoken to you, but you had a constant crowd of people around you that day. Kale was like your personal bodyguard; I didn’t want to get too close. He isn’t very fond of me for some reason.”
I tearfully laughed as I wiped under my eyes once more. “He knew I didn’t like you, so as my best friend, he automatically didn’t like you either. It seems he hasn’t grown out of it.”
Daven snorted. “I’ll say, sometimes when we’re in the same shop or something, he’ll glare at me until I’m sure he is going to kick my arse.”
I laughed. “He would never hit you – he’s not like that.”
Or at least he used to be not like that.
“I hope you’re right,” Daven mused and dropped his arm from around my shoulder.
I smiled. “He’s just protective I guess.”
Daven’s lip quirked. “After all these years, if he is still that way with you, then it seems like he has a thing for you.”
I felt my cheeks heat up. “Give over.”
Daven laughed at my embarrassment over his teasing. “Are you staying for long?” he asked, then winced. “Sorry, that was nosey. You don’t have to answer; it’s none of my business.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, waving him off. “I am staying. I decided to move back.”
Another stunning smile spread across Daven’s face.
“You know what this means?” he asked.
I blinked. “What?”
“We’ll have to hang out and become the proper friends Lavender always wanted us to be.”
I smiled warmly. “She used to blow a fuse when we’d be at each other’s throats.”
Daven laughed and looked down at her picture. “She was perfect, wasn’t she?”
I nodded. “She was; her heart was my favourite thing. She was just brilliant.”
Daven smiled, then looked back to me. “You’ll have to meet my wife and kids – they’ll love you. They’ve heard about you from my stories about Lavender, so they’ll want to meet you.”
Daven worked his way into my heart with that one sentence.
“You told them about Lav?”
“Of course.” He nodded. “My wife is the one who pulled me from my depression and helped me start living again. I love her with all of my heart, and I’m a lucky son of a bitch to have her. My boys have seen some pictures of Lavender, and they know of her as my good friend who is in heaven.”
I placed a hand on my chest. “Daven, I might cry again. It touches my heart that you keep her memory alive when you don’t have to.”
He smiled sadly. “I acted foolish when I was younger, but I was so in love with her, Lane. She was my world, and when she died, I wanted to die too.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
Daven suddenly chuckled and wiped at his eyes. “She’d be laughing her arse off if she were here right now.”
“Don’t I know it.” I chuckled and dried my face once more.
Daven looked up then and said, “There’s your Kale, walking in the gate.”
My Kale. I felt my face flush but didn’t correct Daven. I looked up and saw he was right. Kale was walking up the left pathway that would lead him to the section where Kaden, my uncle and my aunt were buried.
“It’s really sad what happened to his kid. I can’t imagine what he must be going through.”
I liked that he said “going” instead of “went”. Daven knew that losing someone wasn’t a particular feeling that lasted for a certain amount of time; it was something you had to live with for the rest of your life. I looked from Kale to Daven when he cleared his throat.
“Give me your number,” he said, grinning, “so we can set up a playdate.”
I laughed again and called out my number to him, watching as he saved it into the contacts on his phone. He winked at me and then gave Lavender’s picture a kiss.
I heard him murmur, “Catch you later, babygirl.”
When he stood up, he wiggled his phone at me. “Speak to you soon.”
“I look forward to it,” I said.
Daven left then; as he walked down the pathway towards the cemetery exit, I switched my gaze to Kale. I found him standing in front of Kaden’s grave, his hands in his pockets as he stared down at the headstone. I wanted to go over to him, but I didn’t want to intrude. Instead, I sat back down on Lavender’s grave and smiled at her picture.
“You’re taking care of Daven, I see.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry I never saw what you did, but I’m seeing him now, and you were right: he is pretty fabulous.”
I chuckled and then sat in silence for a while, picking blades of grass out of the ground and cutting them with my nails. I was about to talk some more to Lavender when a shadow fell over me. I looked up and Kale was standing over me.
“Hey,” I said, smiling, and got to my feet, brushing my jeans down as I stood.
He nodded and joined me in looking down at Lavender’s grave. I frowned as I stared at the picture of my beautiful friend who was taken far too soon.
“I saw Daven Eanes over here with you,” Kale mentioned after a moment. “Did he give you any trouble? I know you never got on well with him.”
I chuckled. “It was fine. I think we actually just became friends. He was visiting Lav and found me here instead.”
“I see him here a lot,” Kale commented. “He brings her fresh flowers every week. Sometimes his wife and kids are with him, and they keep her headstone clean and the area around it nice and tidy. He’s pretty close to her parents too.”
That brought me a great deal of comfort.
I exhaled. “It’s insane to think he is married with kids. So many people that I went to school with are all moving forward and doing normal things people do when they grow up. They fall in love, get married and have kids. I feel s
tuck in time. Right now, I feel like I’m twenty again and just buried Lavender.”
“I feel like that every day, kid,” Kale sighed. “It’s been five years since my Kaden died, and it still feels like I just lowered him into the ground.”
My heart hurt for him.
“I hope it gets easier for you, Kale, I really do.”
He didn’t reply, but looked back to Lavender’s picture.
“She was one of the greatest people ever,” I said, smiling. “She came into my life right when I needed her; it was like she was my guardian angel. She helped save me from myself.”
I shivered when Kale’s arm slid around my waist.
“I’ll be forever grateful to her for that,” he murmured.
I looked up at him and sorrowfully smiled. “This hurts.”
“I know, darling.”
“Before anyone I knew had died, there was a time when I used to come here with my dad,” I mused. “We’d take a shortcut through here to get to the playing field through the hedges, and I remember thinking, even though I was little, that I wouldn’t like to say goodbye to anyone I loved. Now my aunt, uncle, friend and best friend’s son are buried here. I still can’t believe Lavender is gone, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over my uncle and Kaden.”
Kale kissed the crown of my head.
“Life throws curve balls at you, Laney Baby. There will always be something unexpected. We just have to pick up the pieces the ball smashes and try to put them back together.”
I frowned. “I’m not as strong as you, Kale.”
He turned me to face him. “Are you joking?”
I shook my head. “I’m a coward.”
He almost growled at me. “Don’t you ever say anything like that about yourself again. After all the shit you’ve been through, you’re still here, and that counts for something, Lane.”
I stared up at him, mesmerised that I was finally seeing some emotion in him.
“I met Drew when she was on her way out,” he commented. “She said you both spoke.”
I nodded. “I apologised to her for how awful I used to be, but she was adamant that I had nothing to be sorry for. She’s pretty great.”
“Yeah,” Kale agreed.
I glanced up at him. “She told me that you used to talk about me a lot, and that you used to have nightmares about—”