Dreaming of His Pen Pal's Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,61
it seemed like there was a little uncertainty in his eyes as he said, “I brought my first letter. If you don’t mind, maybe we can go somewhere you can read it.”
“Now? While you’re still here?”
She could see him dropping off a letter, one that she could read while he was gone. It seemed a little odd he had one he wanted her to read while he was still there.
Still, there wasn’t too much she wouldn’t do for him. The thought was a little scary.
He nodded.
“You want to go to the back porch?” she asked, as he took her hand.
“Yes. That sounds good.” He seemed to take a breath, almost as though what he was about to do was intimidating. “I don’t have a lot of time before I need to leave for the airport.”
“I know.”
She didn’t want to face the inevitable, but in some way she wanted talk about it. Really. Not that she was having doubts, necessarily, although she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to keep the doubts at bay once he left.
They walked to the back porch without saying anything more and they sat down, side-by-side, on the swing. Dante still held her hand, an envelope clasped in his other.
She thought it was going to say something, but after a few moments of silence, he handed her the envelope.
It just had her name on the front. His handwriting surprised her. Not what she was expecting, and vaguely familiar. Actually, very familiar.
It couldn’t be.
Her stomach tightened and her hand trembled.
She tugged her fingers from his so she could open it.
It held a regular piece of notebook paper, and she pulled it out.
She hadn’t read a word, had only allowed her eyes to skim over the paper, recognizing the handwriting before everything clicked into place, and she knew that the man sitting beside her, the man she’d spent the last few days with, the man she vowed to write to and try to make things work with, was the pen pal that she’d been matched up with, Computer Geek.
Her hands dropped her lap, and she sat, trying to catch her breath, staring at the other side of the porch, running everything through her head, trying to figure out what this meant, what exactly, it meant.
How long had he known? Why hadn’t he told her? What else did she need to know? Had he been playing her? But why?
Even though part of her felt betrayed, the bigger part of her wanted to believe that whatever he had done, he’d done with her best interests at heart. That maybe he’d figured out who she was and hadn’t known how to say without violating the promises he made when he signed up as her pen pal.
Deciding she needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, she held the letter up and read it without looking at him.
Dearest Journee (The Healing Pen),
I know you’re probably feeling shock right now. I wish I could have figured out a better way to tell you. But I just couldn’t leave without letting you know.
My biggest fear is that you’ll think that for some reason I was trying to trick you, or pull a fast one on you, or use you in some way. I promise, that is not the case.
I had no idea who you were — that you were The Healing Pen – before I came to Mistletoe.
Even after I came, I didn’t know it was you until the boy and the dog ran into you and you dropped your notebook.
I wasn’t prying, I promise, but my eyes just landed on the handwriting and I recognized it immediately. I didn’t need to see “Computer Geek,” on the top of the page in order to know that you were the person that I had been writing to.
I think I’d already been half in love with you through our letters.
Even though I didn’t know how old you were, or anything about you really that would tell me whether or not we could ever be anything to each other.
I’m sure you can imagine my shock.
I’m not sure you can imagine my excitement, though.
Up until that point, I’d had The Healing Pen in my head, and yet the real live, beautiful, sweet and funny woman in front of me was burrowing her way into my heart.
I have to say it was pretty sweet to be able to reconcile the two of you into one person that I could fall in love with.
And I have. Fallen in love.