Dreaming of His Pen Pal's Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,13

Do you have plans for the summer?

I wanted to let you know, I think maybe writing to you has been as good for me as what you say it’s been for you.

True, I wasn’t stuck in the hospital necessarily, but I worked there. And thinking about your app, messing with it, has been a lot of fun. It’s also made me think about how I treat people here under my care.

Like I said, you’ve been just as good for me. Maybe I should be the one thanking you.

I hope things are getting back to normal for you.

Your friend,

The Healing Pen

DEAR HEALING PEN,

I’ve been getting the kinks worked out on my app. I need a little help, and so I looked a few things up online, got a little advice and some technical direction. Now it’s just a matter of coding. Which I love. I can really geek out on that.

I’ll save you the long-winded details.

Your comment on gardening piqued my interest.

Not necessarily because I care whether or not gardens look pretty, sorry, but because I have an interest in health. Which I assume as a nurse you probably do too. Maybe I should be more specific and say nutrition.

I guess what I’m saying is if you grow it and make it look pretty, I’ll harvest it and turn it into something yummy. Cooking is a pastime of mine.

Not a passion, but when a guy lives by himself, he kind of has to learn how to feed himself, unless he can eat fast food all time. Which, considering my interest in nutrition, is really no option for me.

What do you grow? Seems like every garden needs to have tomatoes, and those are the basic ingredient for a lot of dishes. Healthy too. I guess I’m kind of weird, because I really like okra, and not fried. Most people don’t. I’m not sure why. It’s probably my favorite. That and radishes.

I understand radishes are easy to grow.

I’ve never actually grown anything, but I can see myself doing it.

I don’t know if you got the same instructions I did, but I had to wait a year before I could tell you any details that might identify myself.

So maybe we can set up our whitewater rafting trip for next summer?

I suppose, since we’re friends now, I’m not out of line to ask if you’re married.

Don’t worry, I’m not violating the terms of the pen pal agreement, I just want to know.

I’m not.

I’m not in a relationship either. I guess that was one of the things I was talking about when I said people didn’t stick around.

Not that I was in a long-term relationship, but I kinda had a few girls who I considered more than friends.

I haven’t talked to any of them more than three or four times since the accident.

I think they liked what I represented, or what I had, more than they liked me.

I was on social media a little bit last week; it looked like they’d all moved on. It made me feel dumb. But it didn’t hurt. I wasn’t really sad about it, so that probably says that I was just as invested in them as they were in me.

I hope I didn’t scare you with all of that. I’m not trying to have a romance with you, just want you to know where I stand. I don’t really believe in beating around the bush. It’s always better to just come out and say things. Which reminds me, I’m going to be taking a trip in July and won’t be able to write you while I’m gone.

Dante stopped there and tapped his pencil on his desk. He debated back and forth about whether or not to tell The Healing Pen that he was going to Mistletoe, Arkansas.

Was that breaking the rules of the pen pal program?

From the way he understood it, thousands of people went to the Mistletoe festival.

But if she knew he would be there...maybe she’d go too and they wouldn’t try to meet, but the idea that she was there, somewhere, would be kind of neat.

She didn’t have to tell him that she was the kind of girl who didn’t quit. Who persevered. Who started something and saw it through to the end.

He had a lot of those same characteristics, and he admired them in other people.

But maybe he didn’t want to say anything to The Healing Pen because he didn’t want her to be there. He didn’t want to have to worry about her seeing him and