One Shot. One Kill.
Mara - One Year Later
To:Murphy
From:Mara
Subject:Promise
Murph,
I solemnly swear I will never send you pictures of giant spidersagain.
You bigbaby.
Yours,
Mara
*
To:Mara
From:Murphy
Subject: Re:Promise
Yeah, that’s what you said the last time. I swear to God Mara, I will cut you off, and you will never see one of Grans’ cookies again. I’ll keep them all to myself, eat every one of them, and then send you all the naked pictures when I gain sixty pounds. And then you’ll have to pretend I’m attractive, because I’m the only man in this backwoods town who will sleep with you when you comehome.
How’sthat?
Murphy
*
To:Murphy
From:Mara
Subject: Re: Re:Promise
Woah. That is just cruel and unusual. Besides, the backwoods babes would miss your abs since you’re the only man in a three county radius who has seen his feet thisyear.
Speaking of home and backwoods, I have one last thing I have to do out here, and then I’ll be back stateside. Not sure if I can get back there yet, or if you even want to see me, but if you did, maybe we could talk aboutit?
Mara
* * *
My finger hovered over the send button, but then I shook my head and punched the enter key to send it off. It had been a year of talking to him. A year of having a real friend I could pour myself outto.
I still couldn’t figure out how that friend turned out to be Murphy, but I wasn’t going to look the gift horse up the ass. No Trojans in sightthere.
The problem plaguing me when I lay in my bunk at night was how he would feel if I came back. The last time we saw each other and sort of accidentally had sex, he made it clear he had no interest in a relationship. But what kind of guy with no thoughts of a future emails a girl in a foreign country for ayear?
Which included 245 emails, some including explicit sexual instructions, and nude pictures. Both of which I expected a call about using my military issue email for. So far so good. Only a few weeks, and I’d be out of this hell-holeforever.
Seeing Murphy occupied my thoughts, the idea of talking to him without the threat of someone calling the police over our raisedvoices.
