“Fine?”
“I know I wasn’t perfect. But that’s not what I was doing with Lucas a few months ago.”
“Tessa, if that’s true, ask yourself what it was then.”
We stand quietly for a moment.
“I have a letter for Lucas that …” She stops. “A letter from Collin.”
“To Lucas?”
“Yes, to Lucas.”
“Why would he do that?” I ask, shocked.
“He wrote all of us letters.”
“I suppose you have them all?”
“No, but I had one for you and one for Lucas.”
“I want to read it.”
“I promised Collin I wouldn’t give it to him until I thought Lucas needed it.”
“He’s dead, Jade!”
She nods. “I know.”
I walk into the house, and she follows.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m gonna tear your house apart and find that letter, and you better not stand in my way!”
“Tessa—”
“Now, Jade.”
“And what the hell are we gonna do? Unseal it then seal it back up?” she huffs.
Light bulb moment.
“Hell yes.”
“All right. But if he gets pissed and—”
“I can’t accept his death if you can’t.”
A tear slides down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Tessa. Wait right here.”
I head to the kitchen and start the tea pot. I read once—oh, who the hell am I kidding? I googled it. I used it when Collin received a letter once. It looked like female handwriting, and after my previous relationship, I had a few … thousand trust issues. The steam from the pot broke the seal without evidence. Collin’s was a letter from a woman whose children were in college now, thanks to him. It was a picture of them, and no, they didn’t look like him at all.
My poor husband had to deal with the baggage I brought from Lucas. He did it with grace and love. Collin did everything that way with me.
I had—okay, have—a short temper. Once, after one of my rants, he was standing behind me and smirking. I was further annoyed by it until he told me how sexy he thought I was when I was pissy.
Jade comes into the kitchen and hands me the letter. “I don’t know what’s in here, Tessa, but before you read it, promise me you’ll talk about how it makes you feel. No bullshit.”