“Should we stay back there with her?” Bette asked Tina. “If I were her, I wouldn’t be able to stand greeting all those people alone.”

“She’ll be okay,” Tina said. “She told me that she wanted to oversee everything herself and make sure it was just as Jenny would have wanted it.”

Bette felt conspicuous going into the front row. There were several pairs of eyes on her. She recognized some of the faces scattered around – their old neighbor,Tim, in one row, Marina in another, Phyllis and Joyce, Dylan, Jodi, even Carmen had come – and wondered how many of them knew the full story of Jenny’s death and Bette’s tangential involvement in it. Kit, Max, Helena, Alice, and Tasha were all lined up and they stood and greeted Bette and Tina with hugs before the seven of them sat down. Bette looked across the aisle to the other first row of chairs and saw two older women dressed in black clothes with their heads covered, sitting so perfectly still they looked nearly rigid. Bette guessed one of them was Jenny’s mother.

Probably feeling Bette’s eyes on her, one of the women turned and looked Bette in the eye with a piercing gaze that made Bette look swiftly away, embarrassed at being caught staring. Jenny’s features were so plain in the woman’s face it was almost like being looked at by Jenny herself. Bette sat back almost abruptly, shivering slightly. Tina looked at her with concern and put a comforting hand on Bette’s knee.

Bette peered around Tina at the woman who was no longer looking her way. Tina looked too, following Bette’s gaze.

“I think that’s Jenny’s mother,” Bette whispered.

“Poor thing,” Tina said in a hushed tone.

“She looks almost… angry,” Bette said close to Tina’s ear. “I mean, not that I blame her, but…”

“Shane told me that her family didn’t agree with the funeral and burial plans. Apparently the burial doesn’t follow Orthodox Jewish custom and what Shane decided on is very different from what they wanted. But Shane knew Jenny better than anyone, and definitely knew she wouldn’t want an Orthodox service, so…”

“That makes sense,” Bette murmured.