The Love Letter (3 page)
The entire way home, I checked my phone every two minutes. Maybe, she was in the air by now. Maybe, maybe she hadn’t received it. Or her phone was turned off. Or she was waiting, trying to figure out her answer. Or. Or.
Hours passed. No reply. I checked to see how many bars I had on my reception. I checked to see if the network was cooperating. There were no problems. There was nothing. And inevitably my mind strayed to the most believable explanation: that she hadn’t meant what she had said about wanting to see me again. Or that she had changed her mind. Maybe she felt, like I once had, that the past was too painful to visit again.
Back in my apartment, I grabbed a beer and twisted the cap so viciously that it cut my palm.
My cell phone rang and I nearly dropped the bottle. I raced to answer it, my voice breathless.
“Mark! How’d you do on your test?”
My breath hitched and a pain radiated through my chest. Kathy.
“Hey, sis.” I fought to keep the disappointment from my voice.
“Hey, I’ve been meaning to call you since Thanksgiving. I—well, I have a confession to make.”
“Let me guess. You defaced one of your own books to send me a page in the mail anonymously.”
Silence for two beats.
“How’d you know?”
“When I was there for Thanksgiving I saw the book in the den. Your copy is missing page 308. You pinched one of my SASEs from my job applications to send it.”
She sighed. “Well, I’ve never been good at being sneaky, have I?”
“Not really,” I said, hoping my curt reply would put her off becoming chatty. The last thing I wanted to do right now was discuss this with Kathy.
“I’m sorry, Mark. I just—I—I know how much you loved her once. That kind of love is a rare gift, you know. And the resentment over losing it was tearing you up inside. You two were so….”
“Sis, could we talk about this another time? I can’t—can’t really talk at the moment. Can I call you back later?” I was still hoping against all reason for a call from Justine. Or a text. Or smoke-signal. Or some other sign of acknowledgement whatsoever. Please don’t let it be silence. I could take anything but that, though it might be what I deserved.
“I just wish…wish that it had all been for something.”
So did I. After we said goodbye, I closed my eyes and put down the phone. I chugged the entire bottle of beer and snatched up another. I was on my third when the doorbell rang.
I suddenly remembered that I’d invited Eric over to celebrate the end of exams. I snapped open the door without looking in the peephole.
It wasn’t Eric.
Justine.
Tears in her eyes, on her cheeks. Her cell phone in her hand. My heart stopped beating until she spoke.
“Mark.” It was a hoarse whisper. A plea. An exultation.
I would learn later that she had gone to the airport early and checked her baggage. It had taken her time to retrieve her belongings, filling out papers and speaking with an airline official about pulling out of her flight.
I said nothing as I watched her from the doorway. Then, I took her into my arms, held her close. Her tight sobs in my ear struck arrows to the core of me.
“I always loved you,” I said.
“I never stopped. But why? Why now? After everything…”
I backed into my apartment with her still in my arms. We kissed. She tasted the same, and different—a trace of coffee and that cinnamon gum she loved. She tasted
better
. Our lips met in quiet understanding, mutual forgiveness, passionate reunion.
When we finished, I rested my forehead against hers, her question still hanging between us:
Why now?
I took a breath to finally respond. I hoped that she would understand my answer. “Jane Austen made me do it.”
I hope you enjoyed the short story “The Love Letter: A Tribute to Jane Austen.” Please consider leaving a review at the site where you purchased it. I welcome all honest reviews.
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“The Love Letter” was the award-winning short story included in the anthology
Jane Austen Made Me Do It
. The anthology can be purchased at all major ebook retailers.
Brenna’s next books are a series of New Adult Contemporary Romances called
Gaming the System
The first book,
At Any Price
will be released in December 2013.
Turn the page for more information in these exciting new releases from Brenna Aubrey.
Coming in December 2013
At Any Price by Brenna Aubrey
Achievement Unlocked: Geek Virgin
When Mia Strong, proud geek-girl and popular gaming blogger, auctions off her virginity online, she knows she'll make waves. But what she will not be making is a love connection. Her rules are set in stone: One night. No further contact.
It's a desperate step, but it's the only way she can go to medical school and pay her mother's mounting hospital bills.
Difficulty Level: Millionaire CEO
Adam Drake, the enigmatic auction winner, is a software prodigy who made his first million at seventeen. Now, in his mid-twenties, he's sexy, driven and--as CEO of his own gaming company--he's used to making the rules. Before Mia knows what's happening, he's found the loophole in the rules of her auction. Every stipulation she's made to protect her heart gets tossed by the wayside.
She can't tell if he's playing her...or if he's playing for keeps.
For more information on the release of this novel and subsequent novels in the series, please visit Brenna’s webpage for the novel at
At Any Price
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Copyright © 2011 by Brenna Aubrey
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
Cover design © Arijana Karcic, Cover It! Designs
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2013
ISBN 978-1-940951-00-3
Silver Griffon Associates
P.O. Box 7383
Orange, CA 92863