My Funeral Awakened Her Love

The next day, Seraphine returned to the office right on time.

The morning meetings were still ongoing when Jack went to find her.

By the time Seraphine got back to her office, she found Jack already waiting. She was mildly surprised. "You didn't say you were coming."

Jack set down the coffee in his hand and stepped toward her with a smile. "Someone was too busy to have dinner with me last night, so I figured I'd stop by in person today."

Seraphine dropped into her chair, glancing at the mountain of paperwork on her desk. "I might not be done anytime soon," she said in a helpless tone.

"That's alright. I'll wait," Jack replied, ever the gentleman.

Time ticked by. An hour slipped past before Seraphine finally cleared the last file from her desk. Just as she rose to take Jack to lunch, her phone buzzed on the table.

She glanced at the caller ID and hesitated before answering. Very few people had her personal number.

The voice on the other end was cold. "Seraphine, it's Zedd. I need you to come down to the station."

She asked calmly, "What's going on?" There was no reason for them to speak unless it had something to do with me.

Zedd's voice was cold as ice. "It's about Hayden. We need your signature to proceed with the cremation."

Cremation required a family member's consent.

My parents were long gone. Other than Seraphine, I had no one else. Even though we had signed the divorce agreement, we never finalized the paperwork. Legally, she was still my next of kin.

Seraphine narrowed her eyes. "What did you just say?" Hayden? A cremation?

Zedd repeated flatly. "We need your signature for Hayden's cremation."

She clearly didn't believe him and replied, "Do you think this is funny?"

"You'll see for yourself when you get here," Zedd said and hung up.

Seraphine let out a cold, sarcastic laugh. "After hiding for two days, now he's pulling this kind of stunt."

Jack stepped closer and asked gently, "Who was that?"

Seraphine blinked out of her thoughts, then gave him a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry, Jack. Something urgent just came up. I won't be able to join you for lunch."

He froze for a second, then quickly masked it with a smile. "That's alright. Work comes first. Let's do lunch another time."

"Okay," Seraphine replied.

She headed for the parking lot. Moments later, she was on the road, driving straight toward the police station.

At the police station, her expression remained indifferent, clearly assuming this was just another one of Zedd's and my games. She thought it was an elaborate attempt to make her stay. She fully expected to find me waiting there with a smug grin, thinking I had won.