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Hugs, Hope
Beau experienced a surge of emotion when he read the text.What did Hope want to run past him? What had the DM even said?
It was surreal seeing Holland's name. Beau had been busy in Japan, but he thought of Holland every day. He missed her. When he first left, he hoped his heart would grow cold to her. But as the weeks passed, it seemed the old adage was true and that absence had only made his heart grow fonder.
He saw Holland as a precious jewel—one that was guarded with a tough exterior. She had walls that Beau figured she would never let down. She had looked him directly in the eyes and said she would never get married. Beau wanted marriage, and he tried his best to move on from thoughts of Holland, but it had been difficult.
He and AJ were in Tokyo with a friend and teammate from college named Kai Mori. Kai's grandfather happened to be the CEO of a giant corporation there and his father was second in command. There were six guys from the lacrosse team visiting, seven with Kai, and during the last two weeks, they had experienced the finest of everything Japan had to offer. Beau found out that Japanese women loved American guys—at least the ones he had been introduced to. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
He saw the sights and took it all in, but he wasn't interested in trying to hook up with women all the time like most of the other guys. Instead, his mind wandered to Holland. He couldn't believe it was her name in the message.
Beau had his cousin's wife's cell phone number saved in his phone and he called it without even considering the time.
"Hello?" Hope said, answering.
"Hey, it's me, Beau Cameron."
"Hey, yeah, Beau. I have your number saved. I wasn't sure if you could take calls or texts in Japan."
"It's okay. I got your message. Why were you asking me about Holland? I didn't understand what you were asking."
"What do you think about her?"
"She's amazing."
"I know. She's so sweet, isn't she? Did you get a note from her?"
"No. When?"
"See? That's what I was afraid of. She thinks you read the note a long time ago. I think it was to you. Is there any chance you could have overlooked it?"
"Overlooked what? A note? No."
"I'm pretty sure it was you. But she creviced it. She said she creviced it."
"She what?"
"She stuffed it in your bag, in a crevice. I think it was you. I think she slid a note in your bag."
"Holland wrote me a note? What did it say?"
"I don't know. She didn't tell me. All I know is that she thinks that if you liked her, you would've called by now. Poor baby. She had a rough day. She didn't even mean to tell me all that. I found her by herself in the woods earlier. I could tell she had been crying, so I drug it out of her."
Beau's heart ached at those words. He experienced a pain in his chest that was actually physical. "Why was she crying?"
"She wasn't crying when I saw her, but I could tell she had been. She tried to play it off. She insisted she was fine. But I asked her about it a few times and finally she told me. It was her birthday today. I guess her family mostly forgot and none of us even knew about it so she went all day with no one mentioning it. Her social media is set up for her business, and she spent the day without anyone saying anything at all. She wasn't trying to get attention about it, she just needed to cry, so she was out in the woods. I hugged her, and that's when she told me about you. I'm pretty sure it's you. The story lines up. She was just being emotional, and she mentioned a guy. She told me enough about him that I think he is you, though, Beau. She said she slipped a note in your suitcase before you left. If it's you, you would have found a note in your suitcase."
"I-I don't even have that suitcase with me," Beau said, feeling stunned. "It's back home. Yesterday was Holland's birthday?"
"Today. It's still nighttime here. But please don't tell her I told you. She was trying to be alone, and she was embarrassed that I caught her. She might still be out there."
"What did she say about me? What did she say in the note?"
"I don't know any of that, Beau. She was just trying to explain her emotions and she said a few things about a guy who she spent time with, but he left, and she wrote a note that he never responded to. She never said it was you, specifically, but I think it was. Whatever she wrote in that note, it was enough that she thought this guy would've called her back by now. Did you and Holland have a thing with each other when you were at the lake house?"
"Yes," Beau said instantly. It felt like such a relief to admit it. "If she would have written anybody a note, it would have been me. But I didn't see anything in my bag." Beau broke off, hesitating, racking his brain about his luggage. "I might have left an item or two in the bag. It wasn't big enough for this trip, so I packed a different one when I came here."
"You should try to check inside that bag," Hope said. "If you think it might have been you and if you like her at all, you should check for a note."
