A Beautiful Funeral: A Novel (Maddox Brothers Book 5) by Jamie McGuire Page B

and camera angle was presented at the time. I’d told myself not to watch this movie, knowing it was about an alcoholic, foul-mouthed reporter. Even after a decade on the wagon, my throat tightened every time she took a drink; my heart pinged when she was out, laughing hysterically, sloppy drunk with her friends, taking dick from anyone who had one. I’d made it to the last scene, and she had fallen in love with a decent dude. Fuck. I was too old to say dude. At least, that was what Gavin had told me because he was five and knew everything.
    I ran my fingers over the prickles of Gavin’s dark, buzzed hair. He’d fallen asleep using my lap as a pillow like he always did when his dad was on shift. Tyler and I had fallen in love sometime between a one-night stand (mostly my fault) and a stint in rehab (totally my fault). Somehow, we lived in a three-bedroom house with a dog, two cats, and a son who wasn’t into throwing temper tantrums and never held on to anything—not a bottle, a pacifier; he even potty-trained early. Addiction didn’t seem to be in his future. I just hoped his penchant to let things go didn’t spill over into his love life.
    I glanced at my watch and sighed. It was nearly three a.m., and Tyler was still fighting the fire at the warehouse. Years of sleepless nights kept me from trying to go to bed before he was back at the station, so I waited for the call that he was safe at his second home.
    Just as the credits began to roll, a light knock sounded on the front door. I carefully moved Gavin’s head off my lap and slipped out from under him. I approached the door with caution. We lived in a nice neighborhood in a smallish tourist community, but whoever was at my door in the wee hours of the morning wasn’t selling LipSense.
    “Who is it?” I said, trying to be both loud enough to be heard and quiet so I wouldn’t wake Gavin.
    “It’s Taylor,” a deep voice said.
    “And Falyn.”
    I twisted the bolt lock and yanked open the door, staring at my in-laws as if they were a hallucination. Taylor had both of their sleeping children hanging over his shoulders, his face pale and his eyes glossed over.
    “What are you doing here?” I asked, and then covered my mouth. I hadn’t heard from Tyler in nearly an hour. A lot could happen in an hour. “Oh, God.”
    “No,” Falyn said, reaching for me. “This isn’t about Tyler.”
    I pulled her in for a hug, squeezing her tight. She was surprised, and I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t typically the snuggly type with anyone but Tyler and Gavin.
    “Have you heard from him?” Taylor asked, walking past me.
    “You can put them in the guest room,” I said but wasn’t sure why. Taylor knew exactly where it was and was already headed that way. Taylor and Falyn had spent a lot of their time in our home and vice-versa until Falyn had left. She hadn’t been gone that long, but it somehow still felt strange being under the same roof with both of them again.
    Taylor returned. His hands were free, and he didn’t quite know what to do with them, so he crossed his arms across his middle.
    “Are you okay?” I asked.
    “I’ve been trying to get a hold of Tyler.”
    I shook my head and then glanced back to check on Gavin. “He should be wrapping up at the warehouse. I haven’t heard from him in the last hour.”
    Taylor sniffed. “Guess I’m going to have to go to the warehouse.”
    “They should be finished soon,” I said. “Everything okay?”
    “He’s grown so much,” Falyn whispered, walking over to my son sprawled out on the sofa. She kneeled beside him, smiling as she took a closer look. “Gavin looks identical to Taylor and Tyler when they were his age.”
    “He misses you,” I said. “He asks about you a lot.”
    Her expression fell. “I miss him, too. And you.” She stood. “Taylor got a call from Trent.”
    “We’re going home,” Taylor said.
    “To Eakins? When?”
    “Tomorrow,” Falyn said. “You and Tyler, too.”
    “We