The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (Hart and Mercy, #1)

by Megan Bannen

“Do you honestly believe that dogs don’t have souls? Have you ever met a dog who wasn’t a hundred times nicer than your average human being?” “Um, no?” “Exactly. Don’t insult dogs like that.”

she believed everyone deserved a ritual to usher them into the next life, and if that left no one but her to say a few words over an unmarked grave, she was more than willing to do what was good and right.

Maybe the question we should both be asking ourselves is what do we have the power to change?

each of my family members has entrusted me with a secret that affects the other two, and I’m keeping my mouth shut because their respective responses are likely to upend my life and my future. But by keeping those secrets, I’m robbing each of them of the information they need to make decisions about their own lives and futures,

The night sky is incredible. Why have I never bothered to appreciate it before? It’s been right there all along, but I’ve been so busy thinking of this thing that needs to get done and that thing that needs to get done, that it never occurred to me to look up.

It made me think about how I want people to remember me when I’m gone, for however briefly I’m remembered. When I’m on my deathbed, will I honestly be thinking, “Good thing I finished that to-do list”?

You’d think I’d be depressed after all this thinking and wondering, but I felt oddly light. Still do. I suppose it puts things into perspective—or it’s more accurate to say that you put things in perspective for me—to gaze up at the night sky and feel a part of something bigger than myself.

I think you must be a hopeless romantic. Or a hopeful romantic? That seems more accurate. You keep on putting hope into the world; someone needs to, and it’s definitely not going to be me.

“I think I’m about to do something stupid.” “Okay.” Mercy stood on tiptoes and kissed the corner of his mouth on the exact spot where the frosting had been. She pulled away and watched him as he gawked at her and said nothing, and his silence screamed around her until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Well? Say something.” “I’m still waiting for you to do something stupid.”

He figured that if he could no longer love Mercy in person, he could at least love her through the pages of her favorite novel.