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We got through the funeral without any huge breakdowns – me holding Tyler’s hand and Savannah clutching for dear life to mine. As soon as we got back to the Wright’s house I excused myself from the crowd and brought Savannah into her bedroom.

I climbed onto the bed and patted the spot next to me, encouraging her to climb up next to me. “You did amazing today, kid,” I said. “Now, there’s going to be a lot of people coming over here to see us and it’s going to be really sad. It’s totally okay if you want to just hang out in here. You can take a nap or play or do whatever. Or you can come out with me if you want. It’s totally up to you. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

She nodded and seemed to think long and hard. “I want to take a nap,” she said quietly. “But can I see Tyler first?”

“You sure can. Let’s go.”

She shook her head and sniffled a little. “Can he come in here? I don’t want to go out there right now.”

“Alright, I’ll send him in,” I replied, kissing the top of her head. “I love you, kid. You’re being so strong.”

“Love you too, sissy,” she whispered as I closed the door behind me.

I found Tyler in the kitchen, walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Whoa,” he said, slowly turning around. “How are ya doing, babe?”

I put my forehead on his chest and sniffled a little. “There’s a whole clusterfuck of people on their way here that I don’t even know how to begin to deal with. And, my little sister is crying in her room and asking to only talk to you,” I replied, sighing a little.

He put his hand under my chin and pushed my face up so I could meet his eyes. “That in no way answers my question of how YOU’RE doing,” he whispered, winking at me. He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss. “But, I know you aren’t ready to talk about it and so I’ll go sort out Savannah and then be back to help you deal with that clusterfuck of people.”

The first people to show up were, of course, the team. The second they walked in I started crying and went right to Brad. He pulled me in for a hug and let me cry for a few minutes. When I finally pulled away he looked down at me. “How are ya doing?”

“I’m alright,” I said, pulling myself together. “I just didn’t expect you guys here in a million years. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he responded. “You’re part of the family now, Riley. Speaking of family, where’s Tyler?”

“He’s in dealing with Savannah. She’s having a rough time and he’s the only one she’ll talk to.”

“Figures,” Brad replied, smirking a little. “He was always good with the kids.”

“Well don’t worry. You’re her favorite,” I heard Tyler say from behind me. I turned around to see him standing in the doorway smiling a little. “Riley has it on tape and everything. I just got her to go to sleep though. You’ll have to meet her a little later.”

“Understandable,” Brad replied, throwing his arm over my shoulder and pulling me over towards Tyler. “Now, go comfort your other girl. We’ll do crowd control until she’s ready to deal with them.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, pushing Tyler towards the stairs. “I just need a few minutes,” I told Tyler as I pushed him into my bedroom, closing the door. “Nothing weird. I just need to lie down for a few minutes and just, deal.”

“You do whatever you have to do, babe. You don’t have to explain anything to me. Just tell me what you need me to do to help you feel better.”

“Can you just lie with me for a few minutes? That’s all I need.”

I wrapped myself up in blankets and Tyler’s arms and finally let the sobs come. I let myself cry and cry until the last thing I felt before drifting off was Tyler’s hand absently playing with my hair.

-
I once again woke up to an empty bed. I got up and quickly got myself put back together. Opening my bedroom door I walked straight into Tyler. “Ouf,” I muttered, falling backwards.

He grabbed me, laughing as he helped me steady myself. “Jesus. Good timing,” he said. “I was just coming to wake you. I finally got Savannah settled with the boys. She wanted to wake you but I told her we should let you sleep.”

“That fine,” I replied, smiling and moving past him. “I should probably go say bye to everyone, huh? Not a very good hostess.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said quietly. “They all understand. Plus, Sav’s doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone entertained.”

“Oh lord,” I muttered, smirking a little. “I can only imagine.”

We headed downstairs and into the living room, where we found Savannah sitting on the lap of the one and only Brad Marchand as she talked about how badly she wished her big brother could be there. “He just loved watching your games,” she said excitedly. “I did too. I still do. But Jeremy can’t anymore and that makes me sad. It’s very nice that you came here to try to make my sissy feel better. She’s sad. I can tell. Even if she doesn’t like to tell me she’s sad.”

I frowned a little and looked back at Tyler. “You know, for a 10 year old she’s pretty fucking smart,” he whispered, shooting me a wink.

We got through the rest of the day in a pretty orderly fashion. Savannah was attached to Brad until they all left. He, of course, got all the guys to sign his jersey and left it for her. By the time we got everyone out the door it was time to put Savannah to bed for the night.

Once she was finally asleep I excused myself from Tyler and went to Addy’s room. Her and Ellie were lying on the bed watching Netflix and immediately shifted apart as I closed the door. I climbed up in between them and curled up, sighing. “I’m sorry I’ve been the shittiest best friend the last couple days,” I muttered. “I’ve been completely ignoring you.”

“You’re fucking joking right,” Addy replied, smacking me lightly on the back of the head. “First of all, you’ve been going through hell while trying to lead your little sister through there with you. Secondly, you’ve got an unbelievably amazing guy by your side to help you through it better than we ever could.”

“I know. And he is amazing. I just don’t want to be that girl who ditches her friends for some guy. I need you guys too.”

“We know you do, but you always have us. Right now, he’s present. He has days off that he can spend with you and that he wants to spend with you. You know how busy his schedule is. When he’s away, we’ll still be here. There’ll be balance. We’re okay with that,” Ellie said.

“I don’t know what happens next,” I said quietly, rolling onto my back. “We have to go back to school, Savannah has to stay here, Tyler has to go back to his life. They’re gone, guys. It’s just me and Savannah now. I can’t just – leave her.”

“It’s not leaving her,” Addy responded. “She’ll understand. You’re going to graduate and get yourself situated and then she’ll come live with you. She’s a smart kid. She knows you aren’t going to be able to raise her right now. You’ve got nothing to offer her.”

“Also, you’ve got all tomorrow to explain it to her. We aren’t leaving until Tuesday. It’s late now, there’s no sense in worrying about it,” Ellie added. “You’ve had a long day. You should get some sleep.”

“That’s a good idea,” I responded, moving to stand up. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. I love you.”

I headed back to my room and found Tyler already in bed, concentrating on his iPad. “What’re you doing, babe,” I asked, crawling up next to him.

“I’m just trying to do some math here. I have an idea.”

“Oh do you?”

“Yeah. We can bring Savannah back to Boston with us and you guys can just live with me! I can totally afford to send her to a really nice school.”

I slowly sat up and stared at him in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.”