Читать книгу How to Say Goodbye - Katy Colins, Katy Colins - Страница 19

Chapter 10

Callum and Mel were sitting opposite me, both a little more composed than the previous time. Most of the families I worked with were like that. It was as if crossing into my world wasn’t as scary the second time around, just a little more wearying. I’d made them each a cup of coffee, self-consciously checking my reflection in the stainless steel of the coffee machine.

I felt slightly ashamed at how much I had been looking forward to seeing them both again. I liked building relationships with everyone who walked in, but for some reason the Andersons had stayed on my mind. It was something about the way Callum held himself, as if bracing in fight or flight mode for a threat that would never come. This facade of being OK in the face of everything. A facade that I knew could crumble in a second.

Walking in, he had looked drained. It was probably the whirlwind of jobs he needed to do before the funeral: paperwork to be completed and all the people to keep informed of every decision. It sounded like this was going to be a well-attended service.

The best thing is to keep busy, we tell families, giving them a helpful step-by-step list of things to tick off. Most can’t even see beyond the next hour, so having small tasks to complete gives them a sense of purpose to those never-ending first few days. It’ll get better after the funeral, other people say. I knew, though, that the day itself was just the beginning.

‘So my husband Nick will do a reading,’ Mel said, glancing up from a scruffy notebook in her hand. Doodles in biro at the edges. ‘Then we decided to use your guys as pallbearers; we didn’t want to put pressure on family and friends who might feel like they had to say yes if we asked them.’

Pallbearers: a weight not everyone could carry. I made a mental note to tell Raj that one.

‘Not a problem. The guys we use are extremely professional.’

‘We wondered about the eulogy. We don’t feel strong enough to speak on the day…’ She flicked a look at Callum who was scrolling on his phone. He had barely spoken apart from thanking me for the coffee. ‘But we would like to have an involvement in what’s said, if that’s OK?’

I nodded. ‘The celebrant you have chosen to oversee the service will be able to do that for you. I’ll arrange for him to come to your house so he can go through the style and content with you. He will also ask you about a choice of songs or hymns you may like, so it might be worth having a think beforehand, so you don’t feel put on the spot.’

‘Well, she had a bit of a thing about Enrique Iglesias back in the day, didn’t she? When she first met Cal they constantly had his album playing whenever I went round.’

A flash of something crossed Callum’s eyes.

‘You certainly don’t want to pick from the Now That’s What I Call Funeral playlist,’ Mel scoffed before shuddering. ‘No Robbie, no Elton and certainly no James Blunt. Sorry bro, but you don’t. We just want this to be tasteful and respectful, even if it does feel like we’re planning a party for someone who won’t even be there.’

I nodded and moved on.

‘I need to let you know that because of Abbie’s career and the tragedy of her passing, we’ve had a reporter from the local newspaper call us as they are keen to cover her funeral.’