His Letters Reached Me Fourteen Years Late, and the First Said Goodbye novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Come Here
The knock came at a quarter to midnight on Friday, three slow raps, and I knew it before I reached the door.
I had not been asleep. I had been lying on the couch in my sweatshirt with the television on mute.
I put my eye to the peephole.
The hall light was yellow and bad.
In it stood a very tall man in a navy work jacket, with his hard hat in one hand and a duffel over his shoulder.
I took the chain off with fingers that would not work.
"You didn't call," I said.
"My phone's in the river." His voice was hoarse. "Long story. A barn on Thursday, a bridge rail. I'll tell you later."
"You drove here."
"Eight hours. I got off at four." He looked down at me, and his gray eyes were red at the edges. "You said come here."
I pulled him in by the front of his jacket and shut the door with my back.
He dropped the duffel.
He did not say anything else.
He put his hands on either side of my face, the burn scar warm against my cheekbone.
He looked at me until I stopped shaking.
"You're really here," I said.
"I'm really here."
I kissed him.
It was nothing like the cove or his lamp.
It was hard and hungry, with eight hours of road in it.
I had my hands in his hair before I knew I had raised them.
He walked me backward into the narrow hall.
My shoulders met the wall, and a framed print of the lake tilted and he caught it without looking and set it on the floor.
"Your place," he said into my mouth. "I'm in your place."
"Do you like it?"
"I can't see it. I can only see you," he said.
"Then look later."
I pushed his jacket off his shoulders and let it drop.
He yanked his shirt over his head with one hand.
The scar along his ribs showed pale in the hall light, and I put my mouth on it.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of His Letters Reached Me Fourteen Years Late, and the First Said Goodbye are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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