She’s right. Mine couldn’t be my mom because she needed to be his wife. Even when she wasn’t anymore. She can’t be there for me now either, and I resent her for it. But when she doesn’t need to be connected to him, pleasing him, glorifying him, I can try to see her for who she could have been without the mental blocks. Talk to her like I did, but hear what I needed in response.

Morbid to think about, sure. But I’m not rooting for the day to come soon. It might help me hurt a little less when I feel the sad, though.

“I’m cold.” Remi wraps her arms around mine. “Let’s go home and stay there.”

“No better place to be,” I tell her.

I kiss her forehead and then stand, dragging her up with me.

She cautiously approaches the headstone and touches the top. On her way to me, she smiles, and I slide my hand into hers. We walk toward the car, and her eyes focus beyond the iron fence surrounding the county cemetery.

Remi slows, and I let her go.

Colton’s leaning against the driver’s door, arms crossed, when I open the passenger side.

“This one won’t take long.”

He nods. “No rush at all. Piss on the fucker.”

I snort, snagging the box from the footwell.

Remi wraps her arms around herself as gravel crunches under our feet. Once we pass through the gate, she stops and holds out her palm.

“Your therapist check the legality of this, baby? I’m down either way, just need to give the guys a heads-up if a camera catches us.”

Her mouth turns up, and she flutters her fingers to prompt me. It’s legal. Colt checked. But I’d be right here with her regardless.

I’m so fucking proud of the progress Remi’s made the last two months. She still has her moments of panic—such as when her name was first officially linked to me—but she breathes through them quicker each time. Not even the incident with Felix dragged her backward beyond the effect it had on all of us. Now she’s here, more determined than ever to close the chapter.

After she scatters Daniel’s remains in the ditch, I toss the box and bag in the trash can on our return trip to the car.

Colton insists on driving, so Remi climbs in the back seat with her dad’s urn. He’s going on the mantel in the gallery. She hasn’t said it, but I know. He’ll be nestled between the picture of us and the one of him and her—because we looked at the SD cards. Right there in that room.