serve it in teacups and I plan to drink several, getting drunk and staying grateful that my choices and decisions don’t affect a wife and children.
Gage, who hopes you’re now not regretting our correspondence
Dear Gage,
Of course I’m not regretting our letter exchange! I’m so sorry to hear about the interpreter. But remember, although you might not have a wife and kids, you do have family you’re close to...and friends! Be careful with yourself for us.
The package with this letter contains treats I hope you like...or will like to share. Please at least chew one square of bubble gum yourself and remember the Crescent Cove Bubble-Offs we used to hold (though I think it was Griffin who was always named Official Chew Champ, right?).
Last, the time difference between us is almost twelve hours, so this morning I lit a candle for you...during your night. Although I’m on the other side of the world, I hope a little of its glow somehow reaches you.
Yours, Skye
In her role as the Crescent Cove postmistress, Skye approached the home of Rex Monroe, the ninety-plus-year-old who had lived full-time at the cove for as long as she could remember. She took a path that skirted the rear of the cove bungalows, avoiding the more direct beach route. Rex’s place was situated near No. 9, and she didn’t want to give Gage a chance to see her.
She didn’t want to give herself a chance to see him, either. He’d probably feel obliged to address her embarrassment over the interlude in his office and then she’d feel like an idiot for avoiding him. And then they’d be back where they’d started...spending time together during which she experienced quivers of desire that were totally wrong.
Because they were for the totally wrong man.
She wasn’t so messed up that she didn’t want to see herself as a sexual being again, but she wasn’t convinced that one topless climax could be deemed a cure. And failing in front of Gage—with Gage—in some well-meaning attempt on his part to usher her through a complete, start-to-finish sex act could utterly ruin her self-esteem as well as the special relationship they’d had these past months.
It was better to keep her distance now, and once he was gone from the cove, they could restart their conversations—via paper and from thousands of safe miles away.
As she came around the side of Rex’s bungalow on her way to his front door, she heard familiar voices. Jolting back, she was forced to press her hand against the ocher-colored stucco to retain her balance. Gage was there, sitting with the elderly war reporter on his front porch.
The sound of more distant shouts and whoops had her peering around the corner again. Men were on the south bluff, some of them still climbing the path up the side, others perched at various stopping points. Shaking her head, Skye grimaced. None of the posted warning signs had ever reduced its lure, but she made a mental note to tack up one or two more.
“I haven’t seen you up the cliff this visit,” she heard Rex say to Gage. “First thing you and your brother did every summer was see if you could jump from a higher point than the year before.”
“We did a lot of stupid stuff when we were kids,” Gage replied.
“I wouldn’t disagree with that. You’re lucky I didn’t have you hauled off and sent to juvenile hall.”
Gage laughed. “Instead, you had that police officer come to the cove and give us his version of ‘Scared Straight.’”
The old man harrumphed. “Someone had to look after your mother’s interests. That poor woman was at her wits’ end, especially with your father only coming to the vacation house on the weekends.”
“So you made sure you were a nosy, interfering neighbor.”
“Nosy! Interfering!”
“What? Did I hurt your feelings?” Gage’s voice was laced with amusement. “I thought you considered nosy and interfering among your very best qualities.”
Rex made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a smothered chuckle. “Well, you’re much more polite than your twin. What a foul mood he was in when he first came to No. 9.”
“I heard about that.”
“And he went cliff-jumping, even though you think that’s kid stuff now. Jane went, too, once.”
“Jane? What the hell? He should be more careful with her.”
“I don’t know the whole story,” Rex said. “But I do know he loves her, though she deserves far better.”
“Told her that myself. Said she should choose the handsomer twin.”