The Summer I Left novel · Chapter 15 of 24
Chapter 15: Dear Drew
The motel off the highway had a vending machine that sold only pretzels.
Eddie had bought nine bags.
He sat cross-legged on the second bed with the shoebox between his knees, and he did not open a single one.
"You first," he said. "Or me. Or neither. You get to pick."
I sat on the other bed with my shoes still on.
The three envelopes lay on the blanket in a row.
My hands would not do the work.
"Would you read them?" I said. "Out loud. I think I'd get to the second line and stop."
"Yeah," Eddie said. "Yeah, I can do that."
He wiped the pretzel salt off his fingers on his jeans.
He opened the first envelope slowly.
The paper inside was lined, folded in thirds, and soft from being handled.
"Dear Drew," Eddie read. His voice had lost all its jokes.
"You don't know me. I'm going to write this anyway, because I've run out of people to tell.
"My name doesn't matter. I am the woman who raised the boy who should have been yours.
"Tonight I found out what my husband did. I found the hospital bracelet in a coffee can in the garage. It has your last name on it.
"I asked him why. He didn't say a word for a long time. Then he said, 'The baby was going to die.'
"I wanted to scream. I wanted to run. I looked at the boy who calls me Mama. He's four years old and he is asleep on the couch.
"I'm not brave enough to take him to the police. I'm ashamed to write that. I think my husband would kill me, and then there would be nobody for the boy.
"So I'm writing to you. You're the only one I can tell the truth to, and you're a stranger who doesn't know my name."
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