Page 64 of Drop Dead Gorgeous

“She was very brave.”

“So were you.”

She rests her head against my shoulder.

For a long moment, there is only sunlight, the warmth of her beside me, and the endless green insistence of living things. I think about that little girl walking home without fear, and about all the people who no longer see Death as a punishmentor a monster waiting in the dark. They see someone who simply walks beside them when the road comes to an end.

I think of Lavinia.

She made that possible.

“You changed the way they see me.”

She kisses my neck, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“No.”

She slips her hand into mine.

“I just helped them see who you've always been.”

For the first time in memory, I believe her.

THE END