Yours always,
Georgia Peach
The first letter had come out of nowhere, but it piqued my curiosity enough about who this girl was that I started writing back to her. A year later, we still write, and I’m still no closer to finding out who she is. She never slips up or reveals too much about herself.
If the day comes that I decide to meet this girl, and if I found out she’s more than what she portrays herself to be—especially if she’s got a dick between her legs—I will be livid. People are crazy, and I know in my mind that there is a possibility she is something other than what she says she is. My gut told me she’s all female, lonely, and a good friend whether we ever became anything more remained to be seen.
Every time she sent me a letter, I always tried like hell to see if she revealed anything, but she’s careful. Her first letter said she wanted to remain anonymous so she could talk to me freely without fear of judgment, and strangely enough, I get that, but one day I want to know the woman I’ve been talking to. I’m curious about her, and thinking about her is the only thing that distracts me from thoughts of Nora.
Two women were driving me crazy. One completely off limits, and the other a complete mystery. If I wanted sex, I could get it, but I wanted more than that. Everything was getting old. Vacationing alone and picking up random women wasn’t what it used to be, and being in Korea away from my family was wearing me down.
I knew before I came here what I needed to do, but doing it was a gamble. I hadn’t been around Nora since I was in high school. She was of age now, and just as beautiful as she was back then.
“You’re an idiot,” I muttered to myself and threaded my fingers through my close-cropped hair. It was ironic that my Georgia Peach thought I was confident and knew what the hell I wanted to do. She had no fucking clue how on the fence I was about everything. She envied my certainty in my direction, but nothing could be further from the truth.
I was homesick, and it was making me restless. I wanted to hang out with Drew and watch football. Hell, I even wanted to see my dad. It had been too damn long since I hugged my family.
When I got back up to the hotel, I stopped by the giftshop and grabbed some stationary and a postcard before heading back up to my room. The first thing I did was email my commander that I was going to be taking a flight home from Hawaii. Avoiding home wasn’t helping me get over Nora, and I needed to face going home to see if that was what I wanted to do. I was told I could have my pick of posts. I just had to decide where I wanted to go. I could go back to Georgia or at the very least go back stateside.
I grabbed some shot bottles from the minibar and sat at the table, listening as the waves crashing on the shore before I opened the first two mini bottles of tequila and shot them back, one after the other. The alcohol burned as it went down.
I grabbed the pen, paper, postcard, and envelope I’d gotten from the souvenir store and sat down, staring at the blank page. I didn’t know what I wanted to say to my mystery girl. So, I winged it.
Georgia Peach,
It seems unfair that you know me, but I don’t know you. Who are you? I confess with every letter you write to me, I get more confused about how I could forget you. You seem unforgettable.
Hawaii is beautiful. You should definitely make your way here someday. I’m including a postcard in the envelope so you can see the beauty of the island, but unfortunately that will have to do for this trip as I’m heading back to Georgia tomorrow. I think it’s finally time for me to come home. Maybe, hopefully, before I leave Georgia to head back to Korea, we can meet for coffee. I’m including my email and my phone number. You can email or text me if you want to take our friendship from anonymous pen pals to the real thing. It’s what I would like to do.
Hope to see you soon,
Dean
I folded the short note and placed it and the postcard in the envelope. I scribbled the address to the PO Box on the envelope and downed my bottles of alcohol before navigating to the airline website. The first plane out was leaving in six hours. I’d drop the letter when I landed at the airport in Savannah before heading home. Maybe she would reach out and we could meet up before I left back to Korea.
CHAPTER5
NORA
“You ready?”
I looked up from my laptop to see Drew standing by the door. He was in jeans and a t-shirt with his Georgia Coast baseball cap on.
“Where are we headed?” I closed the computer and moved it onto the coffee table in front of me. My muscles were tight from sitting so long, and I was getting tired of staring at the list of college programs and classes. No matter what I looked at, nothing sparked a desire in me. I had no clue what the hell I wanted to study, and going in blind wasn’t my favorite option. It could waste money and time taking classes I didn’t need for a degree.
Drew was my best friend. I don’t know what the hell I would have done without him after Mom married Dr. Foster and I transferred over to Sunset Falls High. For what was left of my freshman year, I had both Dean and Drew looking out for me. After Dean graduated, he took off and hasn’t been back since. The only time I’ve seen or heard from him was when I happened to go into Drew’s room and he was talking to him over video chat.
“We are getting you out of the house. You start classes soon, and you are going to drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what you want to do.”
I groaned. “Too late. I’m already there.”
“Well, let’s get your mind off of it for a while then.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re gonna head up to Savannah, maybe go to the mall or to see a movie after we pick up a friend of mine.”
“Cool. I’m in, but I look like hell. Let me run upstairs and change.”
