The envelope had already been opened, so I didn’t even have to tear it open, just extract the folded letter.
Dear Mr. Madden,
To express our university’s sincere gratitude to you for initiating the Future Bright Scholarships, we are hereby honored to invite you to attend the granting ceremony to the first ten recipients. The ceremony will be held as part of our awards and scholarships ceremony. If your schedule allows it, we’ll be more than pleased to offer you to greet the students on behalf of the Future Bright Foundation. The full list of the additional eight recipients will be sent to you shortly.
Sincerely,
Robin Rahe
Student Awards and Scholarships Office.
A Post-It note in Oliver’s handwriting was attached to the back of the letter. “Bruce, reject invitation, ensure anonymous transfers.”
If I wasn’t shocked enough at what I was beholding, I then had to actually sit down when my eyes glanced over the date. The letter had been sent to Oliver a few days after I had originally moved in, which meant that the donation had been made right after the party. Since I wasn’t checking his mailbox, he must have taken the letter out of there the previous time he had arrived.
I had been here, walking on the beach with him, kissing him, being rejected by him, and he hadn’t said a word. He hadn’t said a word when I had told him my sons had received scholarships and hadn’t revealed anything when they had mentioned it yesterday.
I have nothing to give back, he had said. But saving lives wasn’t nothing, Oliforever.
Oliver had taken care of me and my sons like no one ever had. He refused to be thanked, he refused it be known, he refused to be loved.
With the pace my life was bouncing from one crisis to another, I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t have much time to organize my thoughts that were also bouncing all over the place.
The doorbell rang.
The front door. The man who was the complete opposite of Oliver was standing on the other side of it. I couldn’t form the right words, even in my head, to explain why, of all people, I didn’t wanthimto prance into this house like some guest of honor.
The trio were still in the kitchen when I crossed it on my way to answer the door.
When I flung it open, Jamie stood there, his head turned to the side as he was skimming his eyes over the front of the house, the drive, and the street it stood in.
“One hell of a place to rent, January,” were his first words. He was still looking around and not at me.
“I don’t rent the house, just the little cabana at the back,” I said. “The boys are in the kitchen with Will’s girlfriend.”
“We can hold the wedding here,” he said, finally looking at me.
At the age of forty-eight, Jamie could still be handsome, but he looked like someone who had given up. He had a beer belly; his hair was too long, and not in a good way; his beard wasn’t styled; it was just … there. But he had made an effort and dressed in something other than his usual hanging-below-his-navel jeans and stretched tee. He was in a pair of dark pants and a dark Polo.
“He hasn’t proposed yet, so we’d better not mention it with them.”
“I know how to manage myself with my kids, Jan.”
When he sidestepped me on his way in, I almost expected to smell alcohol. So closely linked he was with that smell in my mind that I was surprised, as always, to find he was sober and smelled clean.
I tried to rush him toward the kitchen, but he strolled through the living hall, measuring everything like a real estate agent who had been invited to appraise the house.
“Hello, kids,” he greeted the boys, who politely approached him for the appropriate dude hug and pat on the back.
Will introduced Stephanie, who smiled bashfully. She seemed to have relaxed in my presence since yesterday, but now was shy again. I could relate. I remembered meeting Jamie’s parents when we had gotten engaged. But that was different because I had been pregnant then.
“Lennox, when you have a serious someone, this is the place to impress.”
Lennox hadn’t come out to his father yet, though Will and I had encouraged him to do so. I believed Jamie suspected it, anyway, and thought he would handle it well. To his credit, he wasn’t a homophobe. But Lennox had said he would find the time.
Everyone helped carry the food, drinks, and dishes to the gazebo outside.
I observed Jamie’s gaze taking everything in, calculating still.
