Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 18308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
HUH?
Someone was crying.
And then, something else, too.
She heard someone playing the organ and familiar voices talking in hushed tones. She wanted to pay closer attention to what they were saying, but there were other things she noticed. Things like the room suddenly smelling like scented candles, which Eric absolutely hated. And wasn’t there supposed to be a cushion behind her back? So why did it seem like...she...was...standing?
Her eyes flew open.
She was standing!
And this wasn’t her home.
It couldn’t be, with that huge, vaulted ceiling, and instead of their couch and kitchen island, there were aisles.
As in...church aisles.
Because that was where she was, Payton realized dumbly.
A church.
She was in a church full of people, and she knew all of them.
On one side was everyone connected to Eric. Some of them were on their phones looking bored while most of them were talking out loud. His family and relatives were present. His friends. His coworkers.
And...her.
The girl he was having an affair with.
The reason Eric had killed her for.
But even knowing this...
Payton simply couldn’t make herself hate the other girl.
Because then and now, she knew that it was Eric who had made a vow to her, and Eric who had broken that same vow.
Payton then turned her attention to the other side of the church, and it was this that had her heart breaking. Nellie and Leah had red-rimmed eyes. Denny, whom Nellie liked to tease for being dramatic, was just...pale, almost as if he was in shock. So was Stu. Finally, there was Mack who had sunglasses on, and it was painfully easy to know why, with how he was wiping his eyes now and then.
That was it on her side. Her boss wasn’t there, but that was probably on Payton since she had never invited him to...
Huh.
The only time her side and Eric’s would come together like this was if it was their wedding (but they were already married!) or maybe their first child’s dedication (but that wasn’t possible either since they had no kids!) or—
Oh.
Payton finally looked at the last section of the church that she realized now her gaze had instinctively avoided.
The place where a huge cross was mounted on the wall, and below it, a casket.
Her casket.
Because she was dead.
And this was her funeral.
I’m dead.
I’m really dead.
The reason why no one had ever looked her way, the reason why none of her coworkers said ‘hi’ and none of his coworkers ordered her around like she was their slave—
It was because she was dead, and thus invisible to their eyes.
So what now?
The world around her started to fade as she tried to grapple with this new reality.
I’m dead.
But I’m still here.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard her husband’s voice penetrate her thoughts.
“Thank you, all of you...for the outpouring of support in the past few days. You all made it more bearable. I wouldn’t have been able to make it here if not for you.”
And as soon as she focused on his shaking voice, the world around her gradually rebuilt itself. She was back in the church, back in her funeral, and Eric was at the lectern, looking every inch the grieving husband he was pretending to be. Blond hair mussed, bloodshot eyes, and a slightly rumpled suit when everyone who knew him knew Eric would rather be caught dead than be seen in public looking less than impeccable.
And so for him to look like this now...
Payton could only feel herself growing more numb at how her husband seemed to have planned everything.
“I keep going over the last time we spoke.”
His voice broke off, as if he was overcome with emotion, but Payton knew him too well. She could tell he had been momentarily distracted, and seeing where his gaze swung for one second—
Rosé.
The girl had slipped out through one of the side doors, and it left her husband...well, Payton had no idea what Eric was thinking since he obviously remembered he still had an audience, and he was now back to playing his role as her grieving husband.
"I keep thinking, if I had just..." Eric stopped speaking as if another word would kill him, and he even pressed his knuckles against his mouth as if not wanting to burst into manly tears.
And Payton, seeing all this...
Wow. Just wow.
If she had any conclusion to make of this, then it was that her husband was wasted in corporate. He should’ve been an actor instead. His performance alone right now could easily win him an Os—
“My wife was a good woman.”
Payton forgot the rest of her thoughts the moment she heard her husband say it.
That word.
Good.
Just hearing it had Payton stumbling back and covering her ears, but it was no use. Her mind was already replaying it over and over—
Good girl.
It was Eric’s last compliment because she had made it so easy for him to kill her, and no no no no no no—