“These were in the cubby with your name on it,” he explained. “That kid at the front desk said he’d been putting them there instead of bringing them to you.” He made a face that shared my opinion of the kid. “I assumed you didn’t know they were there.”
I shook my head dumbfounded. The shocks kept coming with this one. I recognized Sanders’ all-caps scrawl on each one. My heart hammered. Letters. At least a dozen of them, addressed to the Lodge, care of me.
“People use email … since like the nineties,” I said numbly.
What had Sanders been thinking? Nobody had used those mail cubbies since the construction started. That room was for storage mostly.
“Not everybody,” Vincent said and I remembered he still stood there.
“I can’t believe this,” I said mostly to myself.
“Seems like maybe he realized it was a mistake to leave you,” Vincent said and his strong gaze held mine.
Not quite, but it was nice of him to think that.
“Thank you for bringing them to me,” I said.
“Good luck, Roxanne,” Vincent said.
“Roxy. Please.” I smiled.
“I hope everything works out, Roxy,” he added with a demure smile. He started to walk away.
“Wait, Vincent. Are you coming back to Green Valley?”
“Maybe.” He shrugged one shoulder. “For the right reasons.”
He gave me a wave and walked away.
I stared down at the letters. With shaking hands, I brought them back to my new office. I wasn’t sure what this meant. What could it mean? All I knew was that Sanders hadn’t been ignoring me at all.
* * *
The letters weren’twhat I expected. They were updates, casual conversations about what was happening in Sanders’ life. Though it was nice just to hear from him, I wasn’t sure how to reply, if at all. He had been mailing them for weeks at this point without my response, I doubted he expected any.
I needed to talk to somebody. I needed to clear the air with Gretchen. The longer the time passed between us, the more excuses I made. And I knew they were just that. But as I tried to think of the perfect way to broach the hard conversation with Gretchen, the universe decided to step in.
One text from Kim and I was moved to action. I was at Gretchen’s apartment above Stripped within minutes.
“Did you see that bullshit?” I said as way of greeting when Gretchen opened the door.
Gretchen’s eyes widened for a fraction before her face slid into neutral. “Come on in. Suzie’s already here.”
“She must know it’s not right if she’s texting us,” I said as I walked into the room.
I dropped my coat on the side of the chair as I entered the living room where Suzie sat. She looked up at my proclamation.
“I agree. Something’s as wrong as a feathered armadillo,” Suzie said. “We should have tried harder to convince her to stay.”
“You know us. An SWS member won’t change her mind until she is ready to,” Gretchen said pointedly.
I let out a sigh, fidgeting with my bangs.
“I’ve fucked up. I know I’ve been a bad SWS member and I’m really sorry. But we need to help Kim,” I said. “I’m not here because of me.”
They seemed to accept this before looking back at their phones. Kim had sent a text to the SWS group chat. It was a picture of a pill that was definitely not a placebo or an herbal supplement.
“I’m googling,” Suzie said from the corner scrolling on her phone furiously.
