Page 9 of Love at First Write

Well, if he had a reason, wouldn't he have actually come to talk to me in person? If he wanted this to happen for real, he would have made an effort. He didn’t. “I don’t know. I haven’t logged into that account since our last exchange.”

Caroline actually gasps.

“Oh my hell!” Gracie says. “What is wrong with you? How can you not look? This isn’t even my life and I wanna look!”

“Because it doesn’t matter. I’m done with him and everything from the last two years.”

“Are you still hung up on Tommy?” Caroline asks.

“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t even know Tommy. Though I will say that he did me a solid. He came to see me about a week after they were in for their cake. You know when I yeeted myself at him in front of his fiancé?”

Gracie snorts.

“I know. One of my finer moments,” I say. “Anyways, he told me that he’d done some investigating and had found out who I had been writing. So he told me Ethan’s name, and I explained it didn’t matter and that Ethan had come clean.”

“That’s decent of him,” Gracie says.

“More or less. He said that Ethan was a good guy. That they had only done one mission together, but that he’d been a great breacher, whatever the hell that is.”

Caroline taps on her phone. “Evidently, it’s the guy who uses explosives and whatnot to break through doors or whatever. For the SEALs.”

“Explosives skills could be beneficial,” Gracie says.

“I worry about you sometimes,” I tell her. “Tommy, I guess I should call him Tom because that’s what everyone calls him. Whatever, he said that Ethan was out. So if he’s out, he has no legitimate excuse not to have come to see me. He’s a poser. End of story.”

My heart breaks a little more every time I have to remind myself of that fact.

“So where are you headed?” Gracie asks, clearly realizing I’m set on my decision to leave town this weekend.

“Driving down to my family’s beach house. Just some solitude and salty air is exactly what I need.”

Caroline frowns. “Uh, there’s a storm brewing in the gulf. There have been all kinds of warnings.”

“You’re such a weather nerd,” Gracie says with a chuckle.

“Whatever. It’s good to stay abreast of the situation.”

“She said a breast,” Gracie mimics.

“Oh my God, y’all are ridiculous.” But I laugh all the same because there are my girls! I look at Caroline. “It’s not really hurricane season yet, so the storm will likely fizzle out before it hits land.”

“I don’t know, Kels,” Caroline says.

“Listen, the house is fully stocked and even has storm shutters should that happen. I’ll be fine.”

What is that they say? About famous last words?

e-mails

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Bluebonnets, peaches, and Cappodocia

Just another frogman, eh?

I’m guessing all the frogman related email addresses on Gmail are taken up by SEALs. You guys think you’re so clever.