Love Letter

Ian

Lynne looked gorgeous when I went up to get her for the New Year's Eve party. This would be the first time in a few years that I had a date on New Year's Eve. Usually, I would stag; I did not want to have a date on one of the most romantic nights of the year to most women. I mean, Valentine's and New Year's Eve was when women were on the prowl for dates. I feel like this is what going to prom would have felt like, just nine years later.

We waited upstairs talking about easy stuff until the noises from the party started to filter up, and we decided we should get down there before Kelly came and dragged us down. Lynne had told me we were the talk of the town. I could tell she felt uneasy about this. On the other hand, I couldn't wait to get downstairs with Lynne on my arm.

Lisa was the first person we had run into. "Have you seen Ricardo?" she asked, looking at us.

"No, we haven't," Lynne says, looking around, trying to find him in the groups of people spread throughout the house. "Oh, who to talk to" Lynne whispers in my ear, and I laugh.

"You really hate these types of things, don't you?" I ask.

"More than you will ever know," she says, grabbing my arm and trying to make her way to the kitchen.

"Hey," Luke says, stepping into our way. Lynne braces, and I can't tell if he is affecting her or if she is just annoyed we had not made it to the kitchen.

"Hi," I say to Luke even though his hey were directed toward Lynne.

"Some party," he says, looking around the rooms. "The house looks great," he says even though he had seen all the Christmas decorations the other day when he was over.

"Yeah, you know Kelly," Lynne says back. She grabs my hand, making an excuse, and leads me toward the kitchen again. Even though the decorations had been from my sister and me, I bit my tongue.

"Your sister did the decorations?" I ask when we step into the kitchen.

"No, I just don't want to share that night with people. That's my favorite night... ever..." she says. And I know she was downplaying her emotions from the other night.

"Ok," I say. I didn't know why she wanted to be in the kitchen, but instead, she led me down a hall off to the right. She wiggles a doorknob and pushes it open. I step into an office.

"This is my dad's office," she says, looking around. "Or was my dad's office – it's my mom's now," she says. She walks over to the wood filing cabinet against the wall and picks up one of the many picture frames sitting on top of it. She hands me the picture. I see high school Lynne with a man holding her hand; they were standing on a beach somewhere with jackets on.

"That was taken the day before he died," she says. "It was our last day on our family vacation in California. We were flying home the next day... he had a heart attack while getting our bags with us at bag check. He was rushed to the ER, but he had passed away before they even got him back to the hospital."

I had wanted Lynne to open up, and she had, and I couldn't even tell her who I was. "Lynne, there is something I need to tell you...." I say while the door opens and Meredith walks in.

"What are you doing in here?" she cuts me off.

Lynne looks at me, letting me know we need to leave. "Just leaving," she says, patting her mother on the shoulder while we step out. I would tell her everything – who I was, the novel that I am scrapping, everything. Then I lost the moment.

Heading back into the living room, I grab a drink and keep drinking. Two hours later, I am staring at Lynne "you are unbelievably gorgeous," I whisper in her ear.

"You are a sappy drunk," she says. She leaves me sitting on the couch by myself while she goes and finds someone.

"Let's go," she says, leading me out to my car I had driven here. "I let Amanda know I was taking you home."

"Nice," I say, smiling up at her.

I woke, remembering that Lynne had helped me into my bedroom and dropped me onto my bed; that was all. I sat up, looked around, and noticed two main things; the first one was Lynne's journal was off of the desk, and my laptop was sitting open instead of closed.

Lynne.