Page 56 of The Sweet Life

“Thanks. I’ll give the funeral home a call now and get back to you.”

Eight hours later, it was over. They’d said their goodbyes to Alice at the funeral home before her body was cremated. Jake would pick up her ashes in two days’ time. Alice didn’t want a funeral, according to Jake. She’d brought it up the last time she’d visited him in San Diego, saying it was because a friend of a friend hadn’t told her family, and Alice wanted to be sure they knew she didn’t want a wake or church funeral. Clearly, she’d been ensuring they knew her wishes without having to tell them about her diagnosis just yet.

“This can’t be all there is, Jake. Just the two of us at a funeral home saying goodbye.” Kendra hadn’t wanted to come, and they weren’t allowed to bring Max. It had been too fast to search out Alice’s friends and acquaintances. Neither Sage nor Jake really knew the people in her life now. “We have to do something to honor her, to celebrate her life.”

“We will,” he said, continuing past the exit to the farm. She hadn’t really been up to driving either to or from the funeral home. Although it hadn’t been as difficult as she’d thought it would be. She had a feeling it was because they’d said their goodbyes last night when they’d locked up Alice’s house.

“Where are you going?”

“It didn’t feel right just going back to the farm. I thought we’d do something in Alice’s memory, raise a glass in her honor.”

She saw the turnoff up ahead. “Jake, I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Don’t worry. I didn’t plan on stopping at the site of theaccident. You can close your eyes. I’ll let you know when we get to the Smoke Shack.”

She saw a cross up ahead on the side of the road and quickly closed her eyes.

“Sorry. I haven’t been down this way since I talked to the couple at the Smoke Shack. I didn’t realize someone had put up a roadside memorial.” He brought her hand to his thigh, holding it until he slowed the car along the side of the road, parking behind a row of cars. “It looks like everyone had the same idea,” he said as he got out of the car and took off the jacket of his black suit, tossing it on the seat. “You might want to take your jacket off too.”

She’d worn a black blazer and skirt, pairing it with a ribbed-neck tank top. She hadn’t considered that they’d be going out afterward or that she’d be taking off her jacket. But Jake was right. It was too hot to leave it on. She took off her blazer, placing it over the passenger seat. Then she closed the door and joined Jake at the front of the car.

She didn’t miss his double take or throat clearing. Nor did she miss the women checking him out as they approached the Smoke Shack. She didn’t blame them. He looked amazing in jeans and a T-shirt, but Jake in a suit belonged on the cover ofGQmagazine. Even without the jacket, she thought when he rolled up his white shirtsleeves.

As they approached the line of people standing at the window of the food truck, Jake nodded at the patio. “Why don’t you grab us a table, and I’ll put in our order?”

There were only a couple of empty tables left on the crushed-seashell patio. “Sure,” she said, thinking they probably should have changed before they came, or she should have at least puton her sneakers. All her shoes had practical heels except the one pair that Willow had packed for her while Sage had been in the hospital, the four-inch black heels she currently had on.

She found them a table, soon realizing why it was still empty. She managed to angle the umbrella to cut out some of the early-evening sunshine. Jake joined her, offering her a bottle of Red from Cape Cod Brewery. He’d chosen a Blonde in honor of Alice, who loved the brewery’s pale ale. They toasted their old friend and mentor.

“Do you remember the last time the three of us were here?” Jake asked, leaning back in the chair and stretching out his long legs.

“I do. You told Alice you were thinking about enlisting, and she spent the entire dinner trying to talk you out of it.” She smiled, thinking back to that night. “She was proud of you, though.”

“She was, and you were as worried about me enlisting as Alice. Except she didn’t try to pick a fight with me because of it.”

“I didn’t… okay, fine. I tried to pick a fight with you, but not because I was worried about you. I was trying to distract Alice.”

“Sure you were.”

She laughed. “I might have been a little worried about you.” She sobered at what they now knew. “She’d gotten her diagnosis around then.”

“She had. But I don’t think that’s what she’d want us to focus on. She went on living a great life and making a difference in a lot of other people’s lives.” He tapped his bottle against hers. “Let’s focus on that, okay?”

She knew Jake was right. “We’ll have to get Kendra to help us with the list of who we should invite to the celebration of Alice’s life.” She looked around. “What about having it here?”

“At the Smoke Shack?”

“Yeah, or the beach.” She nodded at the path to the beach across the road on their right. “Alice did love it here. We could have the celebration on her birthday. It gives us time to plan.” Alice’s birthday was July 25. “I’ll be back to work by then, but if we have it all organized, it’ll be fine.”

“You’ve been off for all of one day, and you’re already champing at the bit to get back to work.” He shook his head.

“I was bored.”

“You’re supposed to be bored, and resting.”

“I saidwasbored, but then Kendra—”

“Order for Walker,” a guy yelled out the food truck window.

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