Page 7 of Love at First Write

“I did. Where is everyone?”

“Mama drove Dad to a doctor’s appointment, and he bitched the whole way to the truck.”

I feel my shoulders sag under my relief that I don’t have to actually avoid my parents. “Well, he should be getting that cast off soon enough,” I say.

“If Mama don’t kill him first,” Oliver says as he walks up. He gives me a side hug and tries to swipe the pastry box from my hand. I smack his hand and move it away from him.

“No, because you don’t know how to share,” I say.

Henry laughs and Oliver frowns. These two haven’t changed since our childhood; they’ve just gotten taller and more broad.

I reach past Oliver and hand the box to Henry. “Share. I’ll know if you don’t.”

“Yes ma’am,” my oldest brother says.

I turn to head back to my car, then hear Henry add. “You should definitely read the email.”

I turn around so quickly I nearly give myself whiplash. “What do you know?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him.

He holds his hands up. “Nothing. I promise. Gracie just texted me and said I should say those words to you.” He grins at me, that dimple in his right cheek winks. “It was worth it. You gonna tell me what it’s all about?”

“Hell no. Y’all behave.”

I get in my car and grab my phone, immediately opening my text messages.

ME: You are the devil.

GRACIE: *gif of evil witch cackling

ME: *eye roll emoji

ME: Also, quit flirting with my brother.

GRACIE: I am NOT flirting!

ME: Keep telling yourself that.

While my phone is in my hand, the temptation is too great. I cave and open his email.

He has no one. He’d sorta mentioned something similar in the past and that should have been a clue that he wasn’t Tommy, considering Tommy has a sister. And because of their parents’ remarriages, they have several half-siblings.

But this is Ethan. Not Tommy.

I scroll to the bottom of his email to see the attached picture and I gasp. It’s a candid shot, and he’s standing leaning against some sort of military vehicle. He’s wearing khaki cargo shorts and a black tank top, and between the muscles and tattoos, there’s just so much to look at. But I zoom in on his face.

Brown hair, brown eyes and a crooked grin. That’s the basic description of him. But what I see are the tiny lines that fan out from his eyes telling me that he’s a smiler. His nose is crooked with a bump on it so I’m pretty sure that it’s been broken at least once.

That lopsided smile speaks volumes about his sense of humor which I have seen on the page again and again. I touch the screen, running my fingertip over his lips.

I’m not ready to believe everything he says and forgive him for his deception. But I will give him the benefit of hearing him out when he gets to town.

letters

Dear Tommy,

Thanks for the tip about how to address the package. I will definitely do that in the future. And I am happy to feed your entire SEAL team if I need to. You know me; I love to bake. And it’s nice to have an appreciative audience.

I’ve been working on a new cookie flavor. I’m hoping to unveil it in time for the Bluebonnet Festival. I’m sure you remember how crazy everyone in Saddle Creek gets for the Bluebonnet Festival, but trust me when I tell you that things have been ramping up. People drive in from all over.