Page 5 of Stoney Gazes for Helpful Gorgons

My heart aches for him. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too."

"It was three weeks ago for me. Her funeral was last week, and I think that really drove it home." Tears prick at my eyes and I almost blink them away before remembering why I'm here and that it's okay for me to show this kind of emotion. Though it still feels wrong to do as much.

"Funerals are hard. And grief is..."

"Like nothing I ever expected," I finish.

"Yes. When I lost Mum, I thought it was going to be a pit of despair and a lot of anger, but it was more peaceful than that."

"Did you get to say goodbye?"

"Kind of. I got to visit her while she was in the hospice. I don't know if she heard any of what I had to say, but I got to say it." A broken expression crosses his face.

"Isn't hearing the last thing to go? She'd have heard you."

"I hope so. If she could hear what everyone was saying then she left the world knowing how loved she was, which is the best I could ask for given the situation. But I think by the end I was relieved that she wasn't in pain anymore. She put on a brave face in front of people, but I could tell that it was taking its toll."

"That must have been hard on you."

"Yes. She'd have hated people seeing her in the hospice like that." He stares off into the room, and I don't know whether to say something or not. It's a conversation, but I also don't want to intrude on his grief and his processing.

"I'm sorry doesn't sound right," I say after the silence has stretched on a little too long.

"Nothing sounds right when talking about this," he responds. "So, what about you? Want to talk about your granny?"

"Yes and no."

"That's a good start."

"I didn't get to say goodbye," I whisper. "That's the bit that's hardest. She was admitted into hospital for a fall, and by the morning she was gone. I didn't even know about any of it until the next day. All I can think about is what might have happened if I'd been there."

"Probably exactly the same."

"I know. But I still feel guilty about it."

"I'm not Bobbi, but I suspect that might be survivor's guilt more than anything."

"Maybe. I just...don't understand how I'm still going about my days like normal when she's gone." I haven't said that out loud to anyone before, not even my sister when she called me.

"Because how can you not? Obviously, I don't know your granny, but I doubt she'd want you to stop living your life. My mum wouldn't have."

"Doesn't stop it being hard."

"No, it doesn't," he agrees. "If anything, it makes it harder."

I give him a weak smile. It's surprisingly easy to talk to him, especially considering I don't know him. Or maybe that's why it's easier to talk to him. I don't actually have to worry about what he's going to think of my emotions because he didn't know me before today. It's like a free pass to be honest that I don't feel I've had before.

"It gets easier to deal with," he promises. "Kind of. Maybe it's different is a better way to describe it."

"Like all of those memes that talk about how you grow around your grief?"

"Pretty much." He leans back in his chair and runs a hand over his face.

An alarm goes off from someone's phone, making me jump.

Jack lets out a sigh. "And now I have to get to a property law seminar. Just what I want to deal with right now."