Page 4 of Reborn to Love You

She had never really taken the time to wonder if there was Heaven or Hell, but she didn’t have a choice now, did she? She was going to find out if—

HUH?

Someone was crying.

And then, something else, too.

She heard someone playing the organ and familiar voices talking in hushed tones. She wanted to pay closer attention to what they were saying, but there were other things she noticed. Things like the room suddenly smelling like scented candles, which Eric absolutely hated. And wasn’t there supposed to be a cushion behind her back? So why did it seem like...she...was...standing?

Her eyes flew open.

She was standing!

And this wasn’t her home.

It couldn’t be, with that huge, vaulted ceiling, and instead of their couch and kitchen island, there were aisles.

As in...church aisles.

Because that was where she was, Payton realized dumbly.

A church.

She was in a church full of people, and she knew all of them.

On one side was everyone connected to Eric. Some of them were on their phones looking bored while most of them were talking out loud. His family and relatives were present. His friends. His coworkers.

And...her.

The girl he was having an affair with.

The reason Eric had killed her for.

But even knowing this...

Payton simply couldn’t make herself hate the other girl.

Because then and now, she knew that it was Eric who had made a vow to her, and Eric who had broken that same vow.

Payton then turned her attention to the other side of the church, and it was this that had her heart breaking. Nellie and Leah had red-rimmed eyes. Denny, whom Nellie liked to tease for being dramatic, was just...pale, almost as if he was in shock. So was Stu. Finally, there was Mack who had sunglasses on, and it was painfully easy to know why, with how he was wiping his eyes now and then.

That was it on her side. Her boss wasn’t there, but that was probably on Payton since she had never invited him to...

Huh.

The only time her side and Eric’s would come together like this was if it was their wedding (but they were already married!) or maybe their first child’s dedication (but that wasn’t possible either since they had no kids!) or—

Oh.

Payton finally looked at the last section of the church that she realized now her gaze had instinctively avoided.

The place where a huge cross was mounted on the wall, and below it, a casket.

Her casket.

Because she was dead.

And this was her funeral.