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1
JUNE
“Mom, seriously I am fine.”
June protested over the phone again, her eyes scrolling over the MLS listings casually as she searched for a home. It wasn’t like she could actually afford it thanks to her husband, who had lied blatantly to her face over the years before dying of a drug overdose two years ago.
No, right now she was staying in a small two-bedroom mobile home that she had bought for herself in order to save money. She didn’t have anyone to impress, would not tell her parents or her brother about her living conditions, and kept her mouth shut around town, utilizing a P.O. Box to keep her ‘image’ firmly in place.
See – Miss June Peyton was a successful real estate agent in the great state of Texas… and broke as dirt.
She worked her rear-end off paying off funeral expenses, a plethora of mysterious credit card bills that came in her name that Mark had opened secretly in order to fund his drug habit. You could round that financial nightmare off with an overpriced and fancy SUV to cart around clients all over town. The clothes, the shoes, the perfectly coiffed hair and nails, all was to maintain a professional image to get better clients.
Better clients, meant pricier houses… which meant bigger commission checks, but no job was too small, and she would tackle anything.
Including today’s client.
A teacher and a pilot out at Flyboys were looking to purchase their first home. They were currently in an apartment, no car payment, no credit card bills, but there was a large loan on an airplane… which was a first for her. Both had excellent credit scores and were already preapproved for a house, it was just a matter of finding the right place and making a move.
Gathering up her purse and her things, she was about to leave when her computer dinged.
Sitting back down, she clicked on her email notification just in case the couple had to cancel… and saw it was a government email address. Her brother was in the Air Force, and she had a special place in her heart for military folks. VA loans could be tough to maneuver, but that never stopped her from tackling one.
Clicking on it, she casually began to read… and her smile faded.
Hello Miss June Peyton – the pen pal guru…
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. I’m your new pen pal – surprise! My buddies call me ‘Selkirk’ (last name/Army/tough-guy stuff), but the ladies…?
The ladies love an accent and call me Ian – so ‘Hi!’
Now, I hope you are sitting? Prep yourself for amazement and wonders galore as I share a few facts about myself – and hope you’ll do the same. Once you hear everything about me? It will be hard to resist, I know… but I promise, I’m completely charming and oh-so friendly.
Blond, Irish-American, shameless flirt and goofball, huge fan of college basketball, can’t tan worth a flip, and might as will be a ginger with the freckles that I have on my nose and shoulders…
What about you, my sweet June?
Let’s kindle this friendship and see where it gets us.
Your friend,
Ian
June barked out a sharp dry laugh and looked around to see if someone was playing a prank on her.
What in the world was going on? Had her brother put her up to this, or did her parents reach out to someone to ‘arrange a nice boy to talk to her’ like she was a teenager once more?
Ever since her parents found out about Mark’s cause of death, it’d been like a neon badge of shame was placed on her chest that she couldn’t shake. Whenever she saw her parents, it always ended up with the same questions repeatedly.
How did you not know?
Weren’t there any signs?
If you were nicer to Mark, he might not have been so unhappy in your marriage, Junie…
If you were more approachable, maybe he could have talked to you?
Her parents acted likeshewas the reason her husband couldn’t kick his drug habit – and everything they said was already ricocheting like a ping pong ball in her mind on a daily basis. Joshua, her brother and Mark’s friend, never said a word – he just insisted that they take a few moments to talk if she ever wanted to. She felt guilty, wondering if she missed the signs, or should have realized something sooner.
