Well… as okay as a father who’s burying his young son can be.
It takes him a few seconds, but he drags his amber eyes from the coffin to mine, and there’s a whole host of pain there. My heart hurts so bad for him.
“You’re here,” he says. His voice is low and gravelly, and he seems genuinely surprised to see me here. The dark brown of his hair seems almost black in this somber setting, and it frames his face like dark curtains.
“Did you think I wouldn’t come?”
He nods and answers honestly. “Yes. I know how close you and Leo were. I thought being here would be too hard for you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. As a teacher, there’s an unspoken rule that you’re not supposed to have favorites, but every teacher always has one.
Leo was mine. He and I bonded over our love of dogs, and Dante would often bring him to the park to have playdates with my nephew, Matthew, so he grew quite attached to me. Ever since Dante saved me from the fire six months ago, he’s been a constant presence in my life.
While my heart hurts so bad at the thought that I’ll never see Leo again, it hurts even worse for Dante knowing he has to spend the rest of his life grieving his son. The police are still searching for the person responsible for the accident that killed him, but no matter how much justice he gets, it still doesn’t change the fact that it happened in the first place.
I look down at the little boy’s coffin with tears in my eyes. “I’ll be honest, a part of medidn’twant to come, but I needed to be here. For both of you.”
Dante lets out a breath at my words and pulls me in for a tight hug. I wrap my arms around his waist and hold him while he cries. Broken sobs wrack his huge body, and I have to guide him to the nearest chair so he doesn’t fall to the ground.
“Oh,caro,” his grandmother says as she comes over and starts rubbing his back.
Her husband places a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Thank you so much for being such an important part of Leo’s life,” he says sadly. “He always spoke so fondly of you.”
I smile. “He’s a wonderful little boy.”
My voice cracks as I say it. I can’t bear to say the wordwas.
Letting Dante spend some time with his family, I quietly weave my way back through the throngs of people to Evan’s car. Dante is having everyone over for a repass at his house, but I don’t think I can bear it.
Once I'm in the car, I glance over at Dante one more time, hoping to catch a glimpse of him before I leave. To my surprise, he sees me through the group of people and holds up his phone, pointing to it.
I pull mine out and read his text message.
DANTE:
Are you coming over?
I sigh and reply back:
ME:
I don’t think I can.
When I look back up at him, he reads the text and nods in understanding before returning his attention back to his grandparents. I start the car and head home, trying hard to erase his disappointed expression from my mind.
It’s nearly two o’clock by the time I get home, and I expect to find the living room empty, but Evan is there playing video games instead of asleep upstairs. I took my time getting home and stopped by the park for a little bit to clear the air. I swear I could hear Leo’s laughter on the wind, but when I looked for him, he wasn’t there.
As soon as I walk in, my senses are bombarded with the artificial scent of lavender air freshener, which makes me gag. Ihatethe smell of lavender, but Evan loves it, so we always have a minimum of five bottles in the house. He claims the scent keeps him calm, but I’d seriously beg to differ.
I'm about to greet him when I hear a sad, pitiful whimper from somewhere in the room.
“Where’s Lunchbox?” I ask, looking around for my new Dalmatian puppy.
When Evan jerks his head to the side of the couch in answer, I'm livid.
Lunchbox’s cage is shoved into the spot where the end of the couch should meet the wall, and it’s covered with a black blanket.
“Evan!” I scold, going to my new baby immediately and unlocking the cage door. “I've asked you a million timesnotto leave him in his cage! How long has he been in here?”
