We convinced her to put her shoes on, we got her situated and talked to her about everything that was taking place before her head leaned straight onto my shoulder again.
"You didn't sleep well last night?" I asked her as we pulled into the funeral home parking lot.
"I couldn't sleep at all." She spoke tiredly, making us all exchange a glance
That told us that today was going to be five times harder than we anticipated.
So the four of us worked together to make sure she wasn't agitated the entire day, because we knew it wouldn't take much to piss her off on an already bad day.
We all ate breakfast, and she thankfully ate really good, relieving us all due to her never having an actual appetite.
About an hour later people started showing up and we went through the same process as yesterday
Hugs, greetings, apologies and introductions.
But thankfully, it soon started and Paige leaned on me as the preacher spoke.
The prayer and speaking went on for about an hour before he spoke about the arrangements to drive to the graveyard.
We were the car directly behind the hearse.
We rode silent, I comforted her by holding her hand, which she held back tightly.
We got to the graveyard where they said one more prayer before putting him into the ground.
And then everyone hugged Paige, apologizing and leaving.
"What can I do?" I asked her as she stayed seated, looking toward the ground her dads body was now in.
"Is it bad that I don't feel the need to cry?" She asked me slowly.
"No, it comes and goes" I told her truthfully, seeing her look to me.
"Can we go home?" She asked, making me nod.
I let the three guys take her back to the car as I stayed, telling her I was grabbing a few flowers, but I actually wanted to get something off my chest.
I went to the hole in the ground, clearing my throat.
"Thank you for giving her to me, thank you for trusting me with her life." I spoke, knowing he wasn't there but hoping to get some sort of closure for myself.
"I promise that I won't fuck this up, I got her. You picked the right person."
