“What is this?” My heart thunders against my chest.
“What, babe?” Nate calls out.
“Nathaniel…come here. Now.”
His footsteps echo in my ear as he gets closer, and I hold up the pink envelope with my name written in cursive. “Wh-hat is this?”
Leo walks in at the exact same moment, and his face falls.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
My head snaps toward him. “What is this?!” I demand, louder than I mean to, but after today, my nerves are completely shot.
I don’t care if I sound unhinged.
I want to know why there is a letter in Leo’s living room…
With my name on it.
In my best friend’s handwriting.
My best friend who has been dead for seven years.
Leo approaches slowly and guides me down onto the couch with him.
“She wrote letters to everyone she loved,” he says carefully. “And for some reason, she left them with me to hand out.”
Some of the panic drains from my chest.
But not all of it.
“This is for me?”
He dips his head, then glances at Nate before looking back at me.
“I fucked up,” he admits quietly. “I’m so sorry, Maddie. I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix this.”
My stomach twists. “What are you talking about?”
He stands, walks back to the pile, and pulls out two more envelopes, both with Nate’s name on them.
“She left instructions on when each letter should be delivered,” Leo explains. “Nate was supposed to get his when you two got back together. Or the other envelope, this year, ten years after the breakup, if you weren’t a couple yet.” He exhales slowly. “It wasn’t until recently, when I pulled them out, that I realized your letter was stuck to the back of Nate’s.”
Oh.
My fingers tighten around the envelope.
“Can I read it?”
“I was supposed to give that to you seven years ago…when Claudina was born.” His voice roughens. “I didn’t realize, Maddie. I’m so fucking sorry.”
My heart softens immediately.
I reach over and pat his knee gently. “It was an accident.”
Then, with careful fingers, I slide the envelope open, making sure not to tear it.
Madeline Grace Cunningham,
