And mail order brides.
What?!
“Dottie, you won’t believe this, but I found a username and password to a dating site in my sister's book. But not just any dating site- one to find a mountain man.”
Dottie snorted. “I’m sorry, what? That exists? And your sister was on it?”
“Yep. Guess what her password is?”
“Oh God. Do I want to know?”
“Find a husband before my sister. What a bitch.” I joked, my words only coming from a place of love.
“That’s amazing. Good one Elena.” Dottie laughed and laughed and I joined in, unable to help myself.
My sister was pretty witty when she wanted to be. Damn, I missed her.
“I wonder if she actually had a profile on here. Or if she dated anyone.”
“You should do some research and report back. Maybe find someone for yourself even.”
“On a mountain man website? No thanks.” I laughed.
“Why are you laughing? That’s all there is around here.”
“Exactly my point. Maybe I should move to the city.”
“Excuse me? You are not leaving me in this town.”
“You have Jerry. Soon you’ll move in together, get engaged–”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, crazy lady. No one is moving in together and who the hell is going ring shopping? Not Jerry. Have you seen that man’s wardrobe?”
I laughed, Dottie’s teasing sense of humor always lifting my mood. After two failed engagements, it didn’t surprise me she wanted to go slow but teasing her was fun. “My point is you found a mountain man.”
“And you will too. So go on there, surf around, you never know.” Static and muffled voices crossed over the phone line. “I got to run, love. Call me later. And don’t overwhelm yourself. Love you, bye.” The line clicked off.
Dottie knew me better than anyone and always knew the right thing to say. I shouldn’t overwhelm myself with Elena’s belongings.
I loaded my car with a few boxes, things of hers I wanted to keep, and headed home as the sun began to set, the sky a mix of pink and orange shades.
With Dottie still at dinner with her parents, the empty apartment greeted me with silence as I brought in the boxes. I stored them in the corner of my room, except for the book of passwords, which I held tightly under one arm while grabbing my laptop.
Settling on my bed, I logged onto my computer and navigated to the website, Mountain Mates. I flipped the book open to the page with Elena’s username and password and typed them in.
Instantly, I was logged into the page. My eyes darted around quickly, taking it all in.
My sister had a profile. A cute one at that. I clicked through her pictures and read her short bio, as tears pricked my eyes.
Oh how I miss her.
My breath caught in my throat and my fingers tingled as more tears threatened to spill over. A sharp pang of grief hit me square in the chest.
I moved away from her profile, unable to swallow past the waves of sadness and clicked on her inbox where multiple messages waited.
Damn. She had a lot of men in here.
I clicked through a few, some she talked to, some new and never opened.
