30 Nights Read Free Page B

was out speaking with Mom and Dad. Nanna wasn’t there. When Dad saw me coming, he met my gaze and gave his head a little shake.
    No.
    Oh no.
    “Mom?”
    She wiped her eyes and pulled me into a monster hug. “She’s gone, baby.”
    “Nanna?”
    “She’s in there with her right now.”
    I held her a bit tighter. “I love you so much.”
    “I know. I love you, too.” She pulled back and wiped away a fresh batch of my tears. “You got your letter?”
    “I did.”
    “She really did love you best of all the children. And she knew that you loved her, too. Never worry that she didn’t.”
    “Thanks, Mom.”
    The next few hours were the hardest of my life to date. I somehow held the rest of my tears back once Nanna came out. Dad stepped in and took over until Uncle Stephen arrived. It became easy to slip into the background then, to take a moment to catch my breath. I’d promised Jasmine that I’d give her a call to fill her in.
    She picked up on the first ring. “Hon, are you okay?”
    “Great Glenna passed.”
    “I’m so sorry. Do you need anything? I can pick up some things and bring them to your place.”
    “I’m going to Mom and Dad’s tonight to be with them. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be out until after the funeral on Wednesday.”
    “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll even e-mail Mickelson to let him know what’s going on.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Go be with your family. Call me when you can.”
    It hurt losing Great Glenna, but what made it easier to handle was having people in my life whom I could count on, whom I loved and who loved me in return. Yes, the pain was there, but I knew it would fade eventually.
    The best way I could honor her and her memory was to become the person Great Glenna knew I could. Somehow I needed to find a way to seek out and seize adventure the way she had. To live a life without regret, to do things that Great Glenna would look at and say, That’s my girl!
    Now I just needed to figure out how the hell I could do that.

3
    T he funeral was as lovely as one could be. It had been years since I’d last been to a service. My parents weren’t particularly religious, so we didn’t go to church unless Nanna asked us to attend. But Great Glenna had been a believer, and she’d been the one who, several months earlier, had picked out this particular church where she’d wanted her service to take place.
    The hymns were ones I recognized as songs she’d often hummed to herself when she’d be knitting something or other. Aunt Sabin had me crying within a few bars of her rendition of the “Ave Maria.” Uncle Tony gave the eulogy and Nanna even said a few words. The interment was at a graveyard a short drive away. I placed a flower on her casket along with the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
    Before I knew it the service was over and we had nothing left to do but to carry on with our lives.
    The days between her passing and the funeral gave me an opportunity to look at her letter again and take stock of my life. I couldn’t help but think of Jasmine and her teasing. How I was a coward, never willing to put myself out there and take a chance. I thought of Eric and the upcoming barbecue. Jasmine was right in that it was the perfect opportunity to get to know him. There wasn’t anything terrible that could happen from saying hello and asking about his classes this semester.
    Great Glenna would certainly approve. Eric was kind of her type, except about sixty years too young.
    I was thinking of Eric as we fell into groups and began heading back to the cars. The wind had picked up and my hair kept blowing into my face. I stopped to fix it, which was the only reason I saw the bag fly from the top of a gravestone and onto the ground. My cousins continued walking, chatting quietly with one another, and hadn’t noticed that I’d fallen behind. I couldn’t stand the thought of someone’s memorial gift to a loved one lying on the ground. It would only