5
‘I'm sorry about your mum.’
Laura's shoulders flinched as the deep voice echoed around her. Her legs were numb, the blood flow constricted after sitting on the white plastic chair overlooking the grave for so long. She vaguely remembered people nodding their condolences as they headed off to the hall across the road for the wake. Stella had told her she would wait, but Laura insisted she wanted to spend these last few moments alone. Since then, time had become irrelevant. She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting staring at the grave.
Laura glanced up toward the imposing figure silhouetted by the dark clouds overhead. Gradually, Tom came into focus.
He bent down at the other side of the grave, removed his Akubra and dropped a pink carnation on top of the mahogany coffin. ‘Carnation
