Her smile fades. “What’s that?”
I sit beside her and open it without answering.
She gasps.
Stacks of letters.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
Holly’s hand flies to her mouth. "You... you kept them?"
I nod. "Every one. Even the one where you said you hated me for missing your birthday."
She lets out a watery laugh. “That was middle school. Ididhate you. For like twelve hours.”
I pick one off the top and hand it to her. The ink’s faded, the paper creased from being opened a hundred times.
She holds it carefully. Like it might fall apart. Then she starts to read.
"Dear Jack,
Today it rained all through recess, so I sat under the awning and watched the puddles fill up. I thought about how dumb it is that you get to live in the mountains and I’m stuck in flat, boring Michigan. It’s not fair. But also, I kind of like that you’re out there. It makes it easier to picture you when I write."
Her voice breaks on the last line.
She sets the letter in her lap.
“I read them to Josie sometimes,” she says. “I told her it was written by a boy I knew a long time ago. I never said his name.”
My chest tightens.
She reaches into the box and pulls out another. “I have all yours too, you know. Every damn one. When things got bad, I’d reread them. Especially the one where you drew that dumb little sketch of Devil’s Peak and told me it was the most important place in your world.”
“It still is,” I say, voice low.
Her eyes meet mine. “Because it’s where I found you?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
She exhales. Shaky. Raw.
“I remember when you told me you were joining the military,” she whispers. “I cried so hard my mom thought someone died. There are tear stains on that letter.”
I reach over and take her hand. “It was the first time I realized I had something to come home for.”
She sniffles. “And that Spring Break… my first year in college. I knew I had to come. My parents thought I was staying with a friend. But I got on a bus and came here. I needed to see you in person. I needed to know it was real.”
My heart twists.
“That night,” she says, voice shaking. “You gave me Josie. The best thing that ever happened to me. And I never told you. Iletthem keep her from you. I let them convince me it was better this way.”
Tears spill down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, Jack. I should’ve fought harder. I should’ve found you sooner. I should’ve?—”
I shut her up with a kiss.
Because she’s here now.
