Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Done All the Way Through

On Sunday night Briana made pasta, and it was edible.

She stood at the stove with a wooden spoon in her fist.

She refused to let anyone speak until they had eaten a full plate.

"Well?" she said.

"It's good," Hannah said.

"It's very good," Elliott said.

"You're both lying."

"The noodles are cooked all the way through," he said. "I'm moved."

"I will put this pasta in your lap, Elliott Hartley."

Hannah laughed so hard she had to put her fork down.

The little kitchen smelled of garlic and burnt toast, and the window was fogged.

Nobody had looked at a phone in an hour.

Briana reached under the table and set a shoebox on it.

"This came to the hospital desk. They've been coming all day."

Elliott opened the lid.

It was full of envelopes, some on lined paper, some on hotel stationery.

The first was a single sheet in a teenager's round hand.

I booed you. I'm sorry. I didn't know.

The second was longer, and he read only the top.

I stood outside the Ardmore in the rain last spring and screamed at you. I think about it every day now.

"They found you through the hospital?" he said.

"Through my name on the newspaper." Briana shrugged. "I'm a very findable person."

"What do I do with them?"

"Keep one. Burn the rest." She grinned. "No. Keep them all. Read them when you're sixty."

His phone lit on the counter.

He looked at it, and then at the two women watching him.

It was a post from Marin's account, with no photograph.

The page is gone. I deleted it myself an hour ago, every post.

I have nothing to add to what I said at the arena. The label ended my contract this morning, and I'm grateful that it did.

Elliott, thank you for letting me do this.

Nothing was signed with a heart.

Hannah put her hand over his.

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