“I missed you too,” he laughed when the kiss broke.
“I love you,” Clarissa said.
“I love you too,” Jared said arching an eyebrow and setting down his bag, “Is everything o...”
Jared’s words fell silent and Clarissa didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know that he had finally seen the letter.
“Aaron?” he said, his voice cracking slightly.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you this morning, baby,” Clarissa said, turning to face him.
“It’s okay,” Jared said, sitting down, “Just give me a minute.”
Clarissa nodded and sat down next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t know if I can read this,” he said, “I don’t want to read it if it’s bad.”
“You’ve been searching for the truth, Jared,” Clarissa smiled.
Jared nodded and carefully opened the letter. Clarissa tried not to look over his shoulder as he opened the letter, but she couldn’t resist. She had helped Jared travel to six different states in the last four years looking for this man. She had invested time and energy, sore feet and tears, not to mention having to see the look on Jared’s face every time nothing came of the trip. Six months ago Jared had finally given up on finding his brother’s whereabouts. Why was Aaron writing now? We couldn’t he have written years ago and save his brother and her all the trouble?
“Hey Kiddo,
Do you know how hard it is to find an address for you? I’ve sent three letters over the last month, but all of them have been sent back to me. I finally got in touch with mom and she said she thought you lived at this address now, but she wasn’t sure. She said you don’t talk to her anymore. What’s up with that? If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me, not her. She’s not the one who pulled a dick move, that was me, bro. That was all me.
Mom told me you’ve been running around all over the country looking for me. What’s with that crazy shit? Shouldn’t you be in school or something? Maybe getting with a girl and getting married? Hell, I told myself I wasn’t going to dance around shit when I wrote to you, but that’s what I’m doing, isn’t it?
Look, things have been rough since I left, but they’re looking up now. Two years ago I woke up in New York, at a hospital. I don’t remember going to New York, but I must have at some point, because I woke up there. The doctor’s said I had so much heroin in my system that I should have been dead. The judge I seen when I was well enough to go court, but was more lenient than I ever deserved. I went to a mental hospital for a few months, but as soon as I was back on the street – she was calling my name.
I hadn’t even been a free man a week by the time I ended up back in the hospital. I went back to court, but this time the judge wasn’t as lenient as before. He told me either I was going to rehab or he was throwing my ass in prison. I went to rehab, and although I didn’t think I would ever want to be clean, by the time the nine months were up I was clean. I’ve been clean almost a year now. It’s still hard, but it’s getting easier.
I’m working now. I got a job as a dish washer at one of the fancy restaurants. I’m thinking about moving back home, but I’m not so sure. Hell, bro, what if I just end up hanging out with the same crew I did before? I mean, shit, where’s that going to leave me? Well, anyway, write me back.
Peace Out,
Aaron.”
“Are we going to New York?” Clarissa asked, quietly.
“Not until after the semester’s over,” Jared said, “Maybe not then, either. I like it here.”
“Good,” Clarissa said giving him a quick kiss.
“I like it a lot,” Jared grinned at her.
“I like it here with you too,” Clarissa said, deepening the kiss.