I had let it linger too long.
It had awakened unexpected feelings.
I kept my head down and went to the kitchen of the funeral home.
I had already connected with some of Donna's grandkids who were in from out of town. Some of them had come with their parents, and there was a group of five or six guys from late teens to mid-twenties who had carpooled together from Missoula. There were girls too, a few of them, but they gathered in the viewing area while the boys stayed in the kitchen, where I was. I had met most of them earlier that morning. They were friendly and asked me a lot of questions. I told them I was in the area for a series that I would be filming, and they were all really impressed and said they wanted to watch it.
An hour or so had passed when I saw Henry come into the kitchen with his sister, Bailey. They greeted a few people, and she talked to him, and within a minute, she was gone. Henry stayed in the kitchen after his sister walked out, but he was talking to a couple, so I didn't go over to him. He glanced my way a few times, but he never walked over. Finally, after about twenty minutes, he came over to me and said, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," I agreed.
"Are you leaving, Amelia? If so, I'll message you about tonight," Connor said, overhearing us from nearby.
He was the grandson I had been talking to the most tonight. He lived in Missoula but was staying in Butte for the night. He wanted me to meet him and his cousins a little later to play some pool. I didn't want to deny them at their grandmother's funeral, so I left it vague, saying I may see them later.
I said goodbye to the others in the kitchen and snuck out, knowing I'd be back in the morning.
Henry barely let the door close behind us when he looked at me and said, "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That guy. Was he asking you out at a funeral?"
"Yeah, but it was with a group—five or six of them are going to play pool. That guy, Connor, he lives in Missoula, but he comes here enough to know the good places."
"But still, the audacity. Not only is it a funeral, but we came here together, and I'm sitting in the same room."
"Oh, no, he asked me if we were together, and I told him we weren't."
He blinked at me. "Still. You were there with me."
As if to make his point, he had followed me to my side of the truck. He opened the door for me before I had the chance to do it on my own. "Thank you," I said, climbing up and sitting inside.
I watched him jog around the front of the truck, and the whole thing felt like I was in a dream. Henry Sutter was a leading man character. He was the biggest, baddest one in that room just now, and there was no denying it. And now he was saying jealous things and opening the door for me. My heart was beating fast when he sat down in the driver's seat and started his truck.
"How's that guy supposed to get in touch with you?" he said, annoyed. "Did you give him your number?"
"No, but I gave him my Instagram. He knows about the series, and he followed me. Some of his cousins did, too. They're interested in the series. They were talking about getting work as extras."
"He said he would talk to you tonight."
"He was talking about messaging me. I told him I might meet them out later if he tells me where they're going."
"It's none of my business. I'm sorry for asking. I guess you can do whatever you want."
"No, it's okay," I said, wanting him to be jealous.
"I heard one of those ladies talking about you giving her Donna's Bible."
"Oh, yeah. Gretchen. That's Gary's wife. I met her this morning, and she was mentioning it."
"Why would you offer it? She probably didn’t even know you had it."
"She didn’t. I heard her mention it, and I offered. It felt good. I had it with me on this trip with the intention of giving it back if someone wanted it. She literally mentioned it in front of me and had no idea I had it."
Henry was quiet, and he shook his head. "Donna gave that to you. She wanted you to have it."
"I’m not worried about it," I said. "I took pictures of some of it. And I had already gotten a lot of use from it. I'm glad for her family to have it. It's Connor's mom, and he's my friend, so, I'm happy it's back to Donna's family."
