Love Letter

Ian

I had made my way into the living room, leaning against the staircase. My mood changed instantly when I found out Lynne was the welcome home guest. It would be an understatement to say I was excited to see her again. I was thanking my sister internally for dragging me with her.

I watched as her siblings hugged her one by one. The best part was when the whole town of Light Falls started chanting her name, and her face turned red with embarrassment. She briefly looked at the woman behind her with a worried look on her face. The woman looked like she could start spewing venom. She left a few seconds later toward the kitchen. A guy came up and stood by me, watching Lynne too.

"How do you know Lynne?" he asked while my eyes were locked on her. I was hoping no one thought it was strange. I had been staring at her since she walked into the house, and I hadn't joined the welcoming line.

"I don't really. My sister was invited by the oldest sister. I'm Ian," I say, shaking the guy's hand.

"I'm Luke," he says.   

"How do you know Lynne?" I asked, wondering if this guy needed a friend or was just waiting to be able to say hi to her.

"We went to school together. She was one of my better friends." He looks at Lynne on this last part, and I sense he had a thing for Lynne in high school and still does. He pats me on the back and says, see you around. Instead of walking to Lynne's back of the greeting line, he walks up to her and gives her a hug. She smiles as she talks to him, and I can see that they are still good friends.

Annoyed by watching the two of them talk, I make my way into the kitchen to find something worth wild to drink. The kitchen is cleared out except for the caterers and the woman who walked in with Lynne. Seeing the portraits on the wall in the family's living room meant she had to be Lynne's mom. I am standing in one of the most magnificent kitchens I've seen in a while as Lynne's mom topped her wine glass with more wine.

She looks up with guilt in her eyes, not wanting to be caught. "Hello," she says.

"Hello," I say, looking at the empty wine glasses beside her hand. She must have seen my eyes drift there and poured some for me in one and hands it to me. I take a sip and am pleased with the wine choice.

"Delicious," I say.

"It's my own personal bottle," she says.

"Thanks for sharing," I say.

"I don't believe we have met – I am Meredith."

"Ian – My sister met Kelly the other day and was invited to this party. It is quite the event," I say.

"I was expecting a handful of our closet friends – not the whole damn town," she says, already refilling her cup. "I'm sorry, "she says, excusing herself out the side door, taking the wine bottle with her.

Not the warmest greeting – her mother could be the newest villain for my next novel, maybe turn her into the same age, though. Perhaps she could be the next-door neighbor? I make my way out and sit on the stairs, glad to see Luke was elsewhere, and I sink down onto a step to watch as all the town people say their hellos to Lynne.

I had not seen my sister in the group of people throughout the house. I had been sitting on the stairs for a while thinking when I looked up to see Lynne at the bottom of the stairs. All she could see was the top of my head, and she looked more surprised than I felt when I looked up and made eye contact with her.

"Stalking me now?" she asks with a tired face on.

"I thought that was the best thing I could do after spilling my coffee all over you. Looks like you could have washed my shorts after all." I say. I see Luke out of the corner of my eye, staring at both of us. She walks past me on the stairs, and I follow her.

She stops at the top of the stairs "what are you doing?" she asks, irritated.

"Like you said, I'm stalking you," I say. She looks at me now with all humor gone. "Okay, the truth – my sister met your sister Kelly the other day in town and was invited to this," I say, gesturing my hands around the house. "So I was dragged here with her – it was just a bonus when I found out that it was your welcoming home party."  

Feeling like this is a reasonable explanation, she turns and starts walking down the hallway – I follow her, not knowing what to do and not feeling like going downstairs with all the strangers.

Strangers and I did not mix well together.

I follow her into a bedroom at the end of the hall, second-guessing myself. The room has a bay window overlooking the city and a single bed off to the side of the room. The left wall is filled with bookshelves, with almost all the shelves being filled.

"Wow," I say, letting my hand flow over her books. I can tell looking at some of the titles that a lot of these were during her high school years, but I am impressed with a majority of them. None of my books are on her shelves. 

"What?" she says, looking up, taking off her converse, and putting them in her walk-in closet.

"Your parents must have spent a small fortune alone on all these books," I say.

"Sports were not my things, so they spent money on books instead of jerseys and new cleats for me." She says, shrugging. She slips into the closet again, looking for something. She walks back out with sweat pants and a sweatshirt in her hands. She can tell I am watching her again.

"For later," she says, holding up the clothes.

Interesting, she would rather be upstairs picking out clothes for later tonight instead of downstairs with all of her guests. 

"You are hiding out," I say.