“What is it?” I rise from the chair and take the box from him. It’s not that heavy.
“Letters. One a month for every year you were gone.”
“He wrote me letters?” I do a quick mental calculation. There must be over two hundred and forty letters in here.
The box that had felt like it weighed nothing suddenly feels like it weighs a ton, and every bit of the pressure sits directly on my chest as emotions literally strangle me until I can’t breathe.
“I haven’t read them,” he quickly says. “But I couldn’t keep them at the house for obvious reasons.”
Because of Liz.
I cradle the small cardboard box in my arms. “Thank you,” I tell him, barely able to get it out.
“Uncle Jay,” he says when I open the office door to leave.
Uncle Jay.Fuck me. I’m really going to lose my shit and bawl like a baby if I don’t get out of here.
“Yeah?”
“Dad also wanted me to tell you something.”
I try to hide the first tear that slips free. “What’s that?”
“He said when I saw you, to tell you that he loved you.”
And then I break. Completely.
“I loved him, too,” I reply on a stifled rasp.
I rush out so I can cry in the privacy of my shitty rental car.
Chapter Thirty-Three
ELIZABETH
Together Again
I lookup from the grocery list I’m making when Charlotte breezes into the kitchen.
“When’s PawPaw and Gramps coming home?”
Daniel and Drew get a kick out of whenever the kids call them grandpa. The first time Marcus said it when he was a baby, Daniel burst into tears.
“Tomorrow. I’m trying to figure out how much food to get for Sunday’s cookout.”
Not the brightest idea leaving things until the last minute. I’ll try to eke out some time to go to the store before the races tonight.
She snatches a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter island. “Who’s coming?”
Biting the end of the pen, I do a mental head count. Julien, Elijah and the boys. Jayson. Meredith and Bryce and the girls. Aurora and JD and their brood. Knox and his family. Trevor and Austin. Tate and Peyton. Shelby and Prescott. Ben and Renee and their kids…good grief. I add a few more items to the listwhen I realize that we’ll need more hamburger meat, hotdogs, and about everything else to feed the big crowd coming.
“About thirty people.”
“Cool,” she says like it’s no big deal. I should give her the list and make her go to the store. “Is it okay if I sleep over at Chelsea’s tonight?” She consumes the banana in three bites and tosses the peel into the compost bin.
“Fine by me. When do you want to go school shopping?”
Charlotte groans like a drama queen. “Don’t remind me that summer is almost over.” Kissing me on the cheek, she practically skips out, her long blonde ponytail swishing as she goes. “I’m heading to Grant’s!”
