Julianne's POV
"Why do you have to wear black to a funeral?" I ask over my shoulder as I smooth the plain black dress over my hips and watch the way it lays against my tummy.
At least black makes me look smaller
Tate tucks his white shirt into his suit pants and shrugs. "How the hell do I know? Of course Quinn would make us buy this shit."
He grimaces as he looks at himself from behind me in our floor-length mirror attached to the door. "I look like dad," he says in horror, as if that's the worst realization in this entire world.
And to be fair, it probably is
I smirk at him in the mirror and shrug. "Dad had gray hair. Yours is brown."
"Yeah, but sharing a room with my sister will help the graying process, I'm sure....."
He picks up his tie and puts it around the back of his neck, letting it drape over either shoulder. "Any idea how to tie this thing?"
I stare at him with my mouth open and he raises an eyebrow. "What?"
"Tate, we lived in formal attire when dad was home and we had to go to a million things. You have worn a tie since you were little."
"So? I never tied my own tie."
"Who did?" I ask in astonishment, not believing dad would actually take the time to do it for him.
"Cook....."
Pain sears my heart, and I nod. "I wish we could've went to his funeral....Do you think it's weird we didn't go to dad's?"
Tate stops for a moment in stunned silence, and then clears his throat. "Probably not as weird as me not even thinking about that before. I wonder if he had one."
"Do you think Holden knows?" I ask as I turn around and take the two parts of his tie, and start tying.
"Probably not a good day to ask him," he says, and then shakes his head as he looks down at me. "Hold up, you know how to tie a tie? What the hell?"
I smirk in embarrassment as I finish it, and straighten it against his neck, folding his collar down smoothly. "A few years ago I was missing Holden. I went into his room and found a few ties in the closet, so I YouTubed how to tie them and wore one."
"That's kinda weird," he says simply as he takes his suit jacket from the bed and shrugs into it. He looks back in the mirror and curses. "Now I really look like dad."
~*~
Holden has been unnervingly quiet the last four days. He has basically completely ungrounded me, which has been awesome, but it feels wrong or something.
Tate isn't taking advantage of Holden's inability to parent at the moment, but I can't imagine that will last much longer.
Not that I want Holden to parent, but I'm ready for him to snap out of it. I get that he's sad, but he's acting like his heart is broken, which is weird because we hardly saw Chippy. We would see her in town, and Holden would stop and chat, but I don't know. It's weird how hard he's taking this.
"You guys look nice," Holden says as we come out of our room, and it's unnerving how much Tate and Holden look alike right now. Their hair color is a bit off with Holden's coal black hair and Tate's chocolate brown, but other than that it's as if they're twins, just different ages.
"You apparently remembered how to tie a tie," Tate says with a small smirk, and Holden smiles back, but it doesn't reach his eyes like it normally does.
"Cook finally taught me after dad caught him tying my tie once, and screamed at me for ten minutes for being incompetent."
Holden clears his throat at our awkward silence and heads for the door. "You ready?"
"Shouldn't we wait for Quinn?" Tate asks.
"She's pulling up now," Holden says quietly as he opens the door and walks out to meet her.
"You guys look great...Woah you two look alike," she gawks as she stares at Tate and Holden. Then she turns to me and smiles. "You look beautiful, Jules. I love how you did your hair."
I inwardly smile. I straightened my hair and I really liked how it turned out. Sometimes I get tired of the natural wave.
"Ready?" Holden asks as he bends down and kisses her softly, and she blushes slightly.
"Ready"
~*~
We drive the short distance to the local church that Chippy goes to, and my mouth drops open at how many people are here.
I think the whole town showed up
The visitation is first so we wait in the long line, and Holden talks quietly to Sylvie, Nico, and Sylvie's bar manager, Ryan.
"So what did you do?" Holden asks quietly as the line moves another couple of inches.
"Sylvie had a ton of boxes for me to open, and I sliced the shit outta my hand on the damn box cutter," Ryan mutters, and we all look at his bandaged left palm.
"I think if you cuss in a church, you'll get smited...Smotted...Smitten? Quit cussin' before ya git us'n trouble!" Nico scolds as he moves up another few inches.
Ryan chuckles as he shrugs. "I think Chippy woulda cussed with me. Five stitches later. Can I claim workman's comp for this?" He asks Quinn.
She folds her arms and shoots him a glare. "For cutting yourself on a knife that you brought from home?"
Ryan gets the hint and clears his throat. "Have they gotten anymore leads? What if the killer is here...."
The four of them look around the busy chapel discreetly, and Nico shrugs.
"My guess? Yup....He's a wolf in sheep's clothing....But then again, everyone calls the person a he...maybe it's not....." Nico whispers
"Who do you think it is?" Ryan whispers just as quietly, and Sylvie lets out a disgusted hiss. "Stop. This isn't about that today, Ryan."
Ryan simply nods as we inch our way even further, and about twenty minutes later we are at the front.
I don't look at her, but I can see her flaming orange hair and a pange of sadness hits me.
She was weird, but she wasn't that bad, I guess
Holden looks at her for a long moment with Sylvie. He leans in and whispers something to her, and briefly touches her hand before they walk away.
He isn't crying, but Sylvie discreetly wipes away a tear that falls down her cheek as she takes his hand.
We get to the pews and find one with enough space available for all of us. I sit between Tate and Holden, with Nico and Ryan on Tate's left and Sylvie on Holden's right.
We settle in and watch as the remaining line dwindles and the pews fill, and Holden leans into Sylvie.
"I'm glad they left her fingernails chipped."
I look over and see Holden smile briefly, and I remember when we first moved here and Chippy told me her crazy story on how she got her nickname.
~*~
We've been sitting here for over half an hour, waiting for the funeral to start, and Tate is bored.
He starts to get on his phone, when Holden lets out a disgusted sigh. "Really dude? Not today, okay? Put it away."
"People are on their phones all over," Tate argues, and Holden clamps his teeth together, but shocks me when he doesn't fight him.
Sylvie looks between Holden and Tate, and lets it go, even though I can see how irritated she is at Tate.
Tate is on his phone for another five minutes before Sylvie looks back over and rolls her eyes. She leans over Holden, and whispers darkly. "Tate, what did your brother tell you to do?"
Tate looks up at her, just as surprised as the rest of us. Nico and Ryan exchange looks, and then glance at Holden to see if Sylvie overstepping is okay with him. And honestly? Holden doesn't look like he has the energy to care at all. He just looks at Sylvie, and then back to staring at the front of the chapel.
Tate shrugs. "Quinn, look around. Principal Lee is even on his phone for crying out loud!"
"What did your brother, ask you to do?"
The looks she sends him makes him stiffen, and to my complete shock, he relents. He sighs as he puts his phone in his lap, and she shakes her head. "I'll take it so you don't get tempted. I'll give it back to you after the service."
"You can't take my phone," he says in a low voice, and she gives him a sickening sweet, innocent smile. "I'm not taking it, I'm holding it." Then her face contorts into bar-owner Quinn as she says darkly, "now," and Tate instantly hands it over to her.
Nico and Ryan hide their smirks, and Holden really doesn't seem to be interested in what's going on as he simply stares at the front.
~*~
The service is pretty short and sweet, which according to the adults is exactly how Chippy would have wanted it. We walk to the cemetery a few blocks down as they do a quick graveside thing, and Holden stays while they lower her into the ground.
"Everybody else has left!" Tate whines as we watch from a distance as Holden stays with the lowering casket.
Quinn sighs as she steps in front of Tate, and he looks down at her. "Here's your phone," she says simply as he takes it and puts it in his suit pocket.
"Don't take advantage of his grief, Tate," Sylvie says quietly as Holden starts making his way over to us.
"What are you talking about?" Tate asks, equally as quiet.
"You know what I'm talking about. Don't take advantage of his grief."