“Thank you. I talked to your brother.”

“I heard. Hope he can help.”

“I hope so, too. Thanks for being here.”

“It’s so sad.”

“It truly is.”

After Derek and Roni moved on to speak with the others, Harry and Lilia came over to hug Sam.

“Thanks for coming.”

“I’m so sorry for all of you,” Lilia said.

Sam couldn’t help but notice that Harry looked haunted as he stared at Spencer in the coffin. “Are you okay, Harry?”

“I just keep going over it and over it in my mind,” he said.

“He’s had a rough week,” Lilia added, curling her hands around her fiancé’s arm.

Sam rested a hand on Harry’s chest, over his heart of gold. “There was nothing you could’ve done. We know now that he was already gone when Angela alerted us.”

“Still… It just seems impossible that this could’ve happened.” Keeping his voice down, he added, “The opioid epidemic is a scourge. A fucking scourge.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Harry turned his intense gaze toward Sam. “Are you looking for them?”

“That’s almost all I’ve done this week.”

“Good.”

Sam had never seen him so upset. She hugged him again. “Thank you for all you did for him. It matters to us.”

“I wish it could’ve been more.”

When Sam stepped back into the receiving line, Scotty approached them with bottles of water that he handed to each of them.

“Thanks, buddy,” Angela said. “I needed that.”

“How’re you doing?” Scotty asked Angela, seeming to make the same effort Sam did not to look at Spencer.

“Doing my best to get through it.”

“You’re doing great,” Tracy said.

“Thanks for being in the line with me.”

“Of course we are.”

Cameron and Gigi came with Dani, each of them hugging Sam and her sisters.

“How’re you doing?” Sam asked Gigi.

“I’m okay. You’ve got enough to think about. Don’t worry about me.”

“I will worry about you.” Her gaze took in Gigi and Cameron. “I want you both to keep talking to Trulo.”

“We will,” Cam said. “We heard about what happened to Jeannie. Is she okay?”

“She is.” Sam lifted her chin toward the line. “She and Michael just came in.”

They came right over to hug Sam.

Jeannie also hugged Gigi. “How are you holding up?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Gigi said.

“I’m fine.”

“I am, too.”

Jeannie’s gaze shifted to Spencer in the coffin and then moved away just as quickly. She shook her head in disbelief. “We’re so sorry, Sam.”

“Thank you. I’m so thankful you’re safe.”

“Michael wants me to quit my job. He says we don’t need the money, and he’s either going to have a stroke or a heart attack before I retire.”

“Is he serious?”

“Might be heat of the moment, but he sounded quite serious. He said the new job was supposed to keep me safer.”

“He’s not wrong. I feel bad that I sent you out there.”

“Don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. Someone needed to do it. Why not me?”