Love Letter

Ian:

We drove into town, and I had spotted Luke's bigger build quicker than I had spotted Lynne's.

I rushed Amanda to park and tried to catch up to Lynne, walking into The Book Store, an original name. I am right behind her when she opens the door, and I have to brace myself before I run into her since she stopped to reach for the bell above the door. She must sense that I am behind her since she turns and puts her finger up to her mouth, letting me know to be quiet. She motions me in with her same arm, and I quietly close the door.

She makes her way to the back of the store. "What are you, a book thief?" I ask.

Instead of responding, she asks me her own question, "Are you stalking me? I was joking the other day, but here you are yet again." Witty and fast, I like it.

"No – my sister dragged me into town this morning – it was just an extra perk that I saw you walking in here when she parked her car." Her eyebrows go up, and I can tell she is thinking about the part that I had followed her in here.

"I believe Stalking is defined as pursuing or approaching someone," she whispers.

"Well, when you put it that way... Why are we whispering?" I ask.

She points to the back room and whispers quietly, "Mrs. Frankel" as if this reasoning will clear everything up for me.

"I guess you can explain it to me when I take you to lunch," I say to her as her cheeks turn redder since they were already pink from the cold weather.

I walk down a few rows to browse the history section giving her space to browse the books in front of her. I can't remember the last time I had actually been in a book store. If I read other authors' work, I always read it on my Ipad or iPhone. It was very uncommon to find people that still bought paperback books when they read a lot. And from seeing Lynne's room, she fell into the category of reading a lot. 

When I had started writing books in high school, they had been short stories. I would never have pursued writing as a full career until my sister had submitted some of my writings to different publishers in New York. And with great surprise, they had published some of the stories. I even had a few reach out to see if I could start writing novels. Of course, every time I walked into a meeting, they laughed me out of the office, seeing how young I was. Except for when I had a meeting with Jimmy – he saw my youth as a start to a great partnership. I wouldn't do book readings since Jimmy wanted the female readers that read my stories to believe I was an older author. He was the one to come up with Cannon Rivers as my pen name. Cannon Rivers has never had an appearance.

Even though every one of my books has been on the best sellers list. It was unheard of not to have an author do book tours, it helped sell the books, but my books did not need them. Half of them have been turned into movies. How no one had tracked me down yet is surprising...

A small group of people knows I am Cannon Rivers - My parents, Jimmy, my sister, and Jimmy's sectary, Patricia. I doubt anyone else does since I have not been revealed as a twenty-year-old who writes like he knows what love is.

I cannot say I have ever been in love. I wish I could, but the closet I came to love was what I wrote in my novels.

My parents were against it at first until Jimmy let them know that I would be able to walk out the door without groupies following me around. I do not believe that author groupies are, but he wanted our partnership to work. I was proud back then that I hadn't even written a full novel yet, and Jimmy had that much faith in my writing. Jimmy is partially retired; he only works on publishing my books for me. "I knew when you walked in that door that day that you were my golden ticket," Jimmy says. He is a great agent.

I expected Lynne to take a while to browse the books, but she took more than a while. It was like she was trying not to miss any of the books pulling out any book that looked interesting to her. "You know most people who read as much as you do have an e-reader," I say, coming up behind her.

"I know," she says, going back to browsing the books. The door chimes a few minutes later, and Lynne and I both look up to see Luke walking toward us. He hesitates, and his brows knit together when he sees how close we are. 

"Hey," Luke says loudly, and I know he just sounds so loud since Lynne and I had been whispering. "I knew it was a bad idea leaving you in here. It's been an hour... You want to get lunch?" he asks. 

She shakes her head no and goes back to browsing. He seems deflated at her little response, even though most people see it as rude. He says cool, muttering he would see her later, and walks out of the store, patting me on the shoulder as he goes. I had a feeling the pat on the shoulder was his way of letting me know that he would be watching me. An older lady from the backroom walks out and looks at us with a confused look on her face.

"Lynne? Is that you?" she asks, coming around the counter to see us better.

"Mrs. Frankel – yes, it is. How have you been?" Lynne asks, giving her – her full attention, unlike how she was just with her Luke and me.

"Good, I'm making it since Jim passed away," the older lady says.

This is the first time Lynne breaks eye contact with her and scans a bookshelf to her right when she responds, "I am so sorry – I heard and would have come back, but with school work...." 

Mrs. Frankel cuts her off. "Don't you worry about it - I got the letters you sent me. Thank you, they came at a time that I really needed them," Mrs. Frankel says this while smiling at Lynne as if she was a lost granddaughter that had come home finally. "I heard you were coming back and didn't dear to believe it."

"I'll be here till New Years Day," Lynne says, giving her full attention back to Mrs. Frankel, and I have a feeling it is because they are back on an easier topic. "I would love if we could get together and have coffee or tea," Lynne says.

Mrs. Frankel smiles and starts shaking her head. "Any time you have time, you know where to find me. Are you still drinking straight coffee, or has New York converted you to mocha and frappes?"

"Still drinking it straight," Lynne laughs.

"Good," Mrs. Frankel says. "Who is this?" she asks, turning to me.

"I'm Ian, a friend of Lynne," I say, smiling.

Lynne says goodbye to Mrs. Frankel. I do the same and then follow Lynne out of the store. She turns toward me, almost running into me.

"You are doing it again," she says to me.

"Doing what?" I ask.

"Stalking" She puffs out quickly; I have to fight back a smile since I know that would annoy her even more. 

"I was led to believe we had lunch plans together," I say as charming as I can. She turns and starts walking quickly. "I find you annoying," she says, and I laugh this time since she admitted it.

"Well then – I will just have to change that, friend," I say, walking beside her, not like that I used the word friend again. But I am hoping it will make her relax a little. I see my sister Amanda up ahead and expect to change direction. She must read my thoughts since she acts like she does not see us and disappears around the corner. "So, where are we going?"

"Well, I was going to go home. But since you are a clinger and I have a feeling you would walk all the way to my house with me – I should just take you to Julian's Café and get this lunch thing done with."

"Please don't sound too enthused," I proclaim.