Love Letter

Lynne:

Ian was in a different world entirely after his mother had let us know that we had met each other when we were kids. His mother finished her story up, saying small world that we would now be working together. I had a suspicion that the word "Destiny" was filtering through Ian's mind even more when it came to me. He wasn't kidding when he had sat in my living room telling me that it was destiny that we had to meet – with or without the coffee.

As far as Ian's mother, Evelyn, I found her charming like I had found Ian after our first date. His mother was on the rouse of the fake Cannon River, and she didn't blink an eye when I gave her a way out for lying for her son. Maybe it was her idea to have her son set up a fake identity so he wouldn't have crazy fans trying to track him down. I mean, if his fans knew he was twenty-six and as good-looking as he was, they would be going crazy trying to track him down. Ian and I walked back to the office, not saying a word. I could tell his mind was elsewhere, and I wanted to snap him out of it.

When he shuts the door, he looks at me with his puppy dog eyes. "Don't," I say, sitting down on the couch.

"Don't what?" he asks, confused, coming over already slipping my feet out of my boots. I wanted to push away from him but liked that he thought of doing things to help me.

"Just stop thinking whatever you are thinking," I say.

"I was thinking should we add my mother into the novel. The first time you met?" he says, looking up at me.

"Oh," I say, kind of sad that he hadn't thought that we had known each other since we were little kids. That our history went farther back than the bus ride that changed everything.

After this, we jump into the work, and I am still distracted by everything I have learned. I knew my façade was slipping fast when it came to Ian. While he asked me questions about chapter five, I was scanning through emails that I had missed since helping him with his novel. The second to last one I checked was that Random Play House Publishing had a 75th-anniversary party for all employees to attend. I knew exactly who I would be asking to it. I needed to put space between Ian and me.

"Hey Mandy," I say after work, walking up to her cubicle. "Are you going to the anniversary party this Friday?" I ask.

"Yes...I was thinking about asking your brother to it," she says and waits for my reaction.

"I thought that was a thing," I say "will he be able to make it with work?" I ask.

"I don't know..." she says, "but either way I'm going – a good way to mingle with the higher-ups," she says.

I want to say you have no clue but instead say, "I'm thinking of bringing someone with."

"That Ian hunk?" she asks. "I figured it was a matter of time you asked him. I mean, if he came over demanding others to get you things while he held my hair up out of my face, I would have asked him that night." She sighs after giving me a play to play on something that happened to me.

"No, not him," I say.

Friday couldn't come fast enough as I got ready with Mandy for the party. My brother Zach was able to go – it was Fred's turn to cover the Friday night highlights. It was nice being twins because even if it was Fred's or Zach's turn, they would be able to do a switch, and no one would know except for the closest ones of his family members. The secret was my mother had a tattoo put on Zach's hand right between his thumb and pointer finger. As they grew up, there were different quirks, so I knew which was which, but I still had to search their hands to make sure.

"Um... Can you make sure I am going with Zach tonight? I can't tell them apart," Mandy asks, and I'm shocked she would think my brothers would do a switch on her.