of our relationship, but Everleigh knew enough to threaten me when I left.
“Wow…” I brush a hand through my hair, trying to process everything.
“Yep. Well, as much as I’m enjoying this brotherly chat, I need to get back to work and open the store.”
“Yeah, I gotta run some errands anyway.”
“What kind of errands?”
“I need to get a checking account, go to the post office and change my address, update my license, and get some new work clothes and shoes.”
She rounds the counter and gives me a hug. “Proud of you.”
I wrap my arms around her. “For what?”
“For coming back home and starting over. I understand things have been hard for you and know being here won’t be easy. I’m proud you came back. I missed you. Our grandparents did too.”
She pushes back, and I smile.
“I know. I missed you guys too,” I admit, then walk toward the door. Before I make it outside, she calls my name, and I turn.
“Can you walk Sassy when you get home?”
Sassy is an American Eskimo dog with way too much energy who also hates me. “Seriously?”
“Please? She loves you!”
“That’s what you call love?” I ask. Everleigh nods eagerly, and I open the door, then wave before walking out.
I wonder if what Everleigh said is true. Why would Gemma marry a man she wasn’t head over heels in love with? Did she really wait years for me?
I think back to one of the letters she wrote her last year of high school. We both knew I’d be returning home soon.
* * *
Dear Tyler,
Senior prom is only a week away, but Everleigh and I decided to do a photoshoot yesterday with our dresses and practice our makeup and hair. Since these letters take so long to get to you, I got a few printed so I could show you.
I hope you like them.
Everleigh is going with a guy from our chem class, and although a few people asked me, I turned them all down. I wish you could be my date. The only person who could make it a night to remember forever is you. You know me better than anyone, which is crazy, considering we haven’t seen each other face-to-face in almost four years, but I feel so close to you. There’s literally nothing I haven’t told you. Some of the things I haven’t even told Everleigh or Katie, and they’re my best friends.
I guess it’s safe to say you could ruin me if you wanted. I’ve told you all my secrets.
But I know you well enough to know you’d never do that to me.
As weird as it sounds, I always imagined I’d lose my virginity on prom night. It’s super cliché, but it seems so romantic. Spend the day getting ready for the magical event, take pictures, go to a fancy dinner, dance for hours, then experience sex for the first time. It’d be the best night of my entire life.
Oh, well.
Promise me things won’t be awkward between us when you come home in a couple of months. I’ve dreamed about the first time we see each other again, and honestly, thinking about it makes me nervous. I told Everleigh we’ve been writing to each other for years, but she has no idea how much or what we talk about. I have a feeling she knows I’ve had a crush on you since seventh grade.
I’ll write you again after prom to tell you how it went.
See you soon,
Gemma
* * *
The photos she added inside that letter had every part of my body on alert. My head felt dizzy from staring at them for so long. Gemma wasn’t a kid anymore, and while I knew that, the pictures proved it. Though she didn’t fully admit it, I could read between the lines. I wished like hell I would’ve been able to get home sooner, but I still had six weeks left.
Her letters went from sweet and innocent to deep and emotional over the course of those four years. Gemma had always been on the shy side, but she wasn’t afraid to express how she felt in her letters. Writing her was therapeutic, and I think she wrote me to deal with the teenage emotions she had during high school. It helped me to open up too and allowed me to work on feelings I had about my childhood. I felt comfortable sharing my life with her, how I was handling the military, and my fears of what I’d do after I was done.
In the few