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Leah shrugged. “I’m okay.”
Jake nodded, looking out the windshield. “And no one’s been bothering you?”
She smiled slowly. “Very smooth, Jake. Like greased ice.”
He turned to look at her. “Greased ice?” he asked, fighting a smile.
Leah lifted one shoulder, laughing to herself.
“Seriously, though. Has he been around? Has he called?”
“No, he hasn’t,” she said. “And I told you I’d let you know if he did.”
Jake nodded. “I know…I just…”
“No, I get it,” she said. “Da
“Asked?” he said with his brow lifted. “No, Da
She swallowed, dropping her eyes to her lap. “I know,” she said softly. “Sorry for giving you shit.”
“I like when you give me shit,” he said, reaching over and tugging lightly on the end of her hair. “It means the fire in you ain’t out yet.”
Leah smiled. “Isn’t.”
“Huh?”
“The fire in me isn’t out yet.”
“Yeah, okay. Save it for the classroom, toots.”
Leah laughed, and he winked at her before he opened the door and got out of the car. She met him around the front, reaching to take the keys he offered her. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Call me if you need anything, and bring this down to us as soon as you can,” he said, patting the hood.
“I will,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “Thanks, Jake.”
Leah stood there and watched Jake get into his car, waving to him as he pulled out of the parking space before she turned toward her mailbox. As soon as she opened the little door, it felt like her stomach turned inside out. She reached in and pulled out the stack of envelopes, completely disregarding the bills and credit card offers as she shuffled his envelope, the one she’d recognize anywhere, to the top.
Leah jogged up the path to her apartment, fumbling with her keys as she unlocked the door, trying to ignore the little ember of anxiety hidden just behind her eagerness. As soon as she was inside, she tossed the other envelopes on the table, sending a few skidding off the other side and onto the floor as she continued into the living room, opening his letter as she went.
Despite the fact that Da
She plopped onto the couch and unfolded the paper, smiling as she saw his familiar angled handwriting.
Leah,
It’s two in the morning, and you’re all I can think about. I wish I could talk to you right now, because I have so much to say, and I’d really rather do it in person, but I know I won’t be able to wait until next week.
Me and Troy were talking today, and he told me what happened with him and his girl. Apparently after his fifth month here, she started missing visitation days left and right, claiming that the drive was too far and that she didn’t have the gas money to come every week. But then a few weeks after that, she started missing his calls too. She’d say she got held up at work, or stuck in traffic, or was helping a friend and couldn’t get to her phone. Troy said he wanted to believe her in the begi
I know this hasn’t been easy for you, but no one looking at you would ever know that. You come here week after week with that beautiful smile on your face, walking through security and having your bag searched, sitting through chaperoned visits like it’s the most natural thing in the world. You’ve taken a miserable situation, and you’ve managed to make it bearable somehow, for both of us.
Even in the begi
I know it’s not enough to say this, but thank you. Thank you for agreeing to have lunch with me that first day, and for not ru
I love you more than I could ever express, in writing or in words.
Missing you always,
Da
Leah read the letter three more times through the blurred vision of her tears before her eyes fell closed, and she folded it carefully and brought it to her lips. She could have sworn she smelled traces of him on the paper, and she inhaled deeply as a tear slipped over her lower lashes and down her cheek.
With a tiny sigh, she opened her eyes and pushed off the couch, making her way back toward her bedroom. She opened the box of his letters she kept next to her bed, placing the new one on top before grabbing the pen and pad off her nightstand.
Leah sat back against the headboard with the pad balanced on her thighs, begi
Da
One day closer to the day you’ll come back to me, and I love you more now than I did yesterday…
Leah had just turned off the water in the shower when she heard the muffled sound of her phone ringing in the other room, and she whipped the curtain open and hopped out, cursing as she caught her right foot on the edge of the tub in her haste.
She hobbled over to her towel and swung it around her body before she rushed out of the bathroom and over to her nightstand.