My Temptation

7

J A N E

It's been 3 weeks since Miles and I made up and everything has been going smoothly. No bickering or getting upset with one another. My father is even starting to become more present than usual, not a lot but I'm seeing him more than 2 times a week. Everything has been going great, I still don't go out that much so Miles and I just hang around the house all day, sometimes separately but mostly together.

And although everything has been going great, today is going to be terrible. It's the 3 year anniversary of my mother's death. Getting up this morning was extremely difficult, I had to force myself out of bed. After getting dressed in all black for today, I go downstairs and see Miles standing by the door dressed in all black as well. He looks at me and gives me a sad smile.

"Hey, how are you doing?" He asks in a soft tone and I shrug my shoulders letting out a deep sigh

"I had to force myself out of bed so I'm not doing too great." I say and he nods. "Well I'm here if you need anything. Your father asked if I join just to give extra support to you but I promise not to be in your way." He says

"You're fine Miles, thank you for being here." I say

"Of course, always." He says

A comfortable silence falls between us as we wait for my father. After a short moment, I see my father coming down the stairs with a bouquet of my mother's favorite flowers. Sunflowers and daises.

"Hi sweetheart. Are you ready?" My father asks as he pulls me into a hug and I nod without saying anything. I feel tears form in my eyes but I wipe them away before anyone could see. "Let's go then." He says with sadness in his voice.

I quickly rush out of the door and go down to my father's car, he unlocks the door and I get in the passenger seat slamming the door shut. I watch as my father walks over to the drivers side and gets in handing me the flowers to hold. I look in the side mirrors and see Miles getting in his own car behind us.

The 30 minute drive to the cemetery was quiet and sad, all you can hear is the sound of the heavy rain hitting against the car. Once we arrive to the cemetery, my father gets out first and comes around to open the door for me. He has his umbrella up and open, I give him a smile and get out of the car holding onto the flowers. I see Miles pull up directly behind us and get out opening his umbrella. He walks over to us in silence and all 3 of us make our way to my mother's private mausoleum. My father goes in first to sit and talk with my mother for a little while as Miles and I stand outside in silence.

After a few minutes of silence he speaks up, "This is a beautiful mausoleum Jane." He says looking down to me.

"Thank you. My father and I picked it out together, my mother always said she wanted to be buried in something like this." I say and he nods. As he's about to open his mouth to say something I cut him off, "How about you?" I ask and he looks confused.

"How about me? What do you mean?" He asks

"When you die, how do you want to be buried? Or do you want to be cremated?" I ask

"No one has ever asked me that before but I've always thought about being cremated and scattered out somewhere." He says and I nod in agreement.

"I want to be cremated and scattered in the mountains." I say

"Why the mountains?" He asks

"I love the mountains. If I could live up in the mountains then I would and I would love every minute of it." I say and he smiles

"The mountains are beautiful, especially with snow in the winter." He says

"Oh most definitely! That's the peak of it's beauty." I say and he nods in agreement. "Where do you want to be scattered?" I ask and he shrugs.