Love Letter

Lynne:

"You are hiding out," he states.

"That is exactly what I am doing," I say, taking a seat at my desk. Ian, who was not invited in but followed me up here, walks over, sits on my bay window, and looks out toward Light Falls. It is my favorite spot in the whole house; most nights, that was the place where I fell asleep. 

"So this is where you practiced after school?" he asks.

I respond with "huh?"

"Practice reading, like a sport – it is quite the reading spot," he says, getting comfortable spreading out on the window seat. I was just glad his shoes were not touching the cushions. 

"Ha – yeah, my dad built this for me for my tenth birthday; it was my reading nook, which is what he called it."

"Quite a gift," he says back to me.

"He was quite the dad," I say back, smiling at the memory of walking into my room after the construction crew had packed up after a few weeks of adding the bay window. The other new addition he had added to my room was the bookshelves custom-made for my room. Over the years, he would start bringing me books home to read. Some were way above my head, and some were just perfect, but it made me appreciate all types of books. He helped me fall in love with books every time one was left on my bed after I got home from school. I could always expect a new one on my bed when he went on business trips.

"Was? Wasn't that your dad who you walked in with?" he asks, locking his eyes on mine.

"Stepdad," I say, not wanting to explain my father's sudden heart attack when I was a sophomore in high school. Ian must sense I do not want to talk about this, so he asks me another question.

"Where did all the money come from?"

I laughed since no one had ever come out and asked me that before.

"He was an investment banker and then the life insurance, and with Victor, I have no clue what he really does. He is rather hush-hush about his job." He raises his eyes upon the last part about Victor, and I whisper "The Mob" and laugh, letting him know I am joking. I had barely talked to Ian on the bus, but this was a lot more fun than trying to talk to the random people down in the living room that I had known throughout my past. Ian was about to say something else, but Fred and Zach interrupted both of us.

"There you are," Fred says, looking at me and then at Ian in the bay window.

"Kelly is pretty upset that you are not down there. We volunteered to come find you," Zach follows up.

"I knew you wouldn't like something like this," Fred says.

Zach finishes saying, "We told her not to do it" they both tisk looking at me.

"Can't we just stay up here?" I ask, pleading with them.

They look at each other, and I can tell that it is tempting to them, and I almost think they are about to cave when Fred speaks, "but if she stays up here, then we don't get to eat the cake."

"There is a cake?" I ask, groaning.

"She bought little sparkle candles that spell out CONGRATS for you to blow out for it even," Zach says, laughing.

"It is not like it is my birthday!" I proclaim.

"Yes, but everyone was betting you wouldn't come home," Fred says. Zach is behind him nodding, and a wicked grin spreads across his face, and I try to run into my bathroom before he can grab me. My effort is useless since the twins have me and take me downstairs. I look back at Ian, and I can see that he is amused by everything that took place. As soon as we make it to the stairs, I quit pouting and make my way downstairs to be the gracious host my sister wants me to be.

Half of the guests have cleared out, and it is almost down to the people I had close relationships with while growing up here.

I am happy to see Luke is still lingering around. When I make it to the living room, Kelly comes up to me, hissing that it is about time I got downstairs. A girl next to her extends her hand and says, "I'm Amanda" I was just finishing rolling my eyes at my sister and really hope Amanda doesn't think it was directed at her.

Amanda is also the girl that picked Ian up at the bus station. Tall blonde and gorgeous – the looks ran in the family. I felt stupid for calling her Barbie earlier without knowing who or what she was like. 

"Hi – nice to meet you," I say while my sister pulls me toward the dining room table that has a three-tier cake on it with candles on top that spells out congrats! There was even an exclamation point on it.

She lights the candles for me, and I proceed to blow them out.

However, they don't go out but keep flickering. I blow two more times and realize that they are trick candles getting more annoyed than I already was. How many times would I have to look stupid today? I look at my sister as she giggles and want to ask her how old she really is. I watch as the sparks fade on their own before wax starts dripping on the very expensive cake below them.

"About time," Fred puffs out behind me impatiently, waiting for the cake. I see that the twins' sweet tooth had not left them. Some things never change. 

I watch as the caterers start cutting the cake up and guests grab pieces for themselves.