To My Romeo, with Love novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Open If

I read my mother's letter at the kitchen table at six in the morning, alone.

Dad had gone out to the garage, and I knew better than to follow.

The paper was blue-lined and soft as cloth.

Her round handwriting climbed a little uphill, the way it always had on birthday cards.

Laurel,

If you are reading this, you have asked who will love you after me, and I am sorry I am not there to answer.

I will answer anyway.

Your father will love you, loudly and badly, with a wrench in his hand.

Somebody else will love you too.

You will not see it coming, because you never see anything coming that is standing right next to you.

I am not afraid of dying.

I am afraid of you thinking that being loved is something you have to earn by being easy to lose.

Let them stay. Let them stand there and be sad with you. That is not a burden. That is the whole point.

Make your father eat something green.

Mom

I read it three times.

Then I put my forehead on the table, on the cold wood, and cried until the toast burned.

When I was done, I got a pad of lined paper and a pen from the junk drawer.

I wrote, To my Romeo, with love.

I stopped.

I wrote under it, If you are reading this, I am gone, and I need you to hear some things.

My hand shook so badly that I tore the page out and started again.

The second version took two hours.

It was three pages long, front and back.

I will not say what was in it.

I folded it in thirds and put it in an envelope.

I wrote OPEN IF on the front and licked the flap before I could change my mind.

Keep reading free with an account. Start To My Romeo, with Love from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.