Sweet Forty-Two(62)



“Hey guys.” I yawned and stretched my arms overhead.

“Hey ... Regan.” Ember craned her neck and peered into the apartment. One look over my shoulder and I saw Georgia busying herself in the kitchen.

Bo leaned against the doorframe. “Everything okay? You were a no-show for our beer, then we couldn’t get ahold of you and Lissa told us Georgia had called in...”

I looked behind me again and found Georgia blushing as she seemed to move pans from one shelf to another. When I looked back at Ember, her eyes were deathly focused on my face.

“You’ve been crying,” she said flatly. “What happened?”

“What?” I waved my hand dismissively. “I’m fine.”

“You do kind of look like shit, dude. What’s up?”

I had to close my eyes and take a breath. I was certain it was inappropriate to still be feeling the heat from Georgia’s lips against mine as I was staring at Bo.

Rae.

The letter.

I winced, feeling like I was being kicked in the stomach all over again. It really hadn’t been a dream. She sent a letter. And told me she loved me. Georgia seemed to sense my stumble because she was right behind me within seconds putting her hand on my back.

“Sit.” She led me over to the couch, where I started to panic.

“Shit ... where’s the...” I patted my chest all the way down to my waist, and felt around my pockets for the card.

Georgia knelt in front of me and picked the envelope off the floor. “It’s right here.” There was a kindness on her face that brought tears to my eyes.

“Guys?” Bo entered the apartment, with Ember oddly silent next to him. “What’s ... going on?”

Thoughts of the beautiful and secretly sweet girl in front of me were pushed far away as the last piece of Rae dangled from my fingertips. I motioned for Bo to sit next to me, my heart racing a million miles a minute. If he’d received something like this, I’d have wanted to know. That’s what I kept telling myself as I slowly handed him the letter. Ember took a seat on the arm of the couch next to him, looking over his shoulder.

“What’s thi—” Bo looked at the return address and brought his hand to his mouth. His eyes watered as he took a long, slow breath, exhaling into his palm.

Ember’s head tilted to the side, and she carefully read the front of the envelope, her cheeks growing red as she stood. “If you don’t want me—”

I held up my hand. “No, go ahead.”

Bo kept his eyes on me as he pulled out the card. “When did you ... how did you...”

“David Bryson sent this to me. He said it was in a box of her things from school.” I chuckled. “She’d never asked for my address, so that will explain why there’s a stamp on it and only my name.”

Bo smiled. “When did you get it?”

“A couple of weeks ago.”

Ember’s eyes shot to me. “You didn’t tell me.”

I shrugged rather unapologetically. “I couldn’t, Em. I didn’t even know if I wanted to open it. Go ahead,” I nodded to Bo, “it’s so Rae.”

Bo’s hands trembled as he ran them over the inked words like he was trying to hold hands with his sister. The more flooded with tears his eyes got, the wider he smiled. His eyes were moving slowly over the lines, like he was trying to savor every second of Rae’s presence. As he reached the end, at the same time as Ember it seemed, he chuckled, a mix of laughing and crying that brought the heels of his hands to his eyes, wiping away a mixed bag of tears.

Ember’s arm was immediately around his shoulder, her lips went to his temple as if it was an emotional fire drill and she was taking her position. Only this wasn’t a drill. Tears streamed down her face, and I watched her bite her lip, keeping her emotions silent and letting Bo work through his. She squeezed him harder as she kissed him on the cheek, then the head before resting her chin on the top of his head and taking a deep breath of her own.

I cleared my throat, not having the energy to cry anymore today. “So, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open it, or what, but Georgia encouraged me to. We went down to the pier and ... long story short, I passed out on her couch.”

Looking into the kitchen, I found Georgia leaning against the island, watching all of us with a lost and sad look on her face. I got up and walked over to her.

“Thank you.” I took her hands in mine and dipped my head so she was forced to look at me. “Thank you for being there for me today.”

“Of course.” She tried to sound nonchalant as she looked over her shoulder at Bo and Ember in their embrace. When her eyes came back to my face, she drew her eyebrows in for a moment before wrapping her arms around my neck and exhaling, “You’re welcome,” into my ear.

I squeezed her back. The warmth of her body was intoxicating. “I’m sorry about your cupcakes.”

“Did someone say cupcakes?” Bo’s voice chirped like a teenage girl and we all laughed.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

I nodded. “Georgia’s got a bakery downstairs.”

“Oh?” Ember walked around the back of the couch. “I was wondering about that. It’s adorable. There’s no sign, though...”

Georgia shifted on her feet, wringing her hands. “Yeah, it’s not technically open, but I fool around down there a lot.”

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