Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 54383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Tully
PS: Did you ever have feelings for me? Any at all?
PPS: I didn't mean what I said about blood on your hands in my last letter, but I’m feeling a deep sense of guilt and regret that our last conversation was about a guy.
Dear Tully,
Yes, please send me the letters that Scarlett wrote for me.
Is she alert and out of the coma yet? How is she?
Sincerely,
Easton.
PS: I liked you, Tully, but our relationship was just a business to me. I’ll always be in love with Scarlett.
46
Dear Easton,
Thank you for being honest.
Scarlett’s letters are enclosed.
Tully
Dear Easton,
If you're reading this letter, it means that I sent it on a terrible day without thinking. That said, I'm not sure if you and I should pursue being together so soon ...
When I arrived on campus this morning, a few people called me “Tully,” and it took me a minute to realize that they weren't joking.
That's the real reason I didn't call you the second I came into town.
Not sure I'll ever send this.
Only needed to vent.
Scarlett
Dear Easton,
I woke up early this morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got dressed and meandered around campus.
Somehow, I made it into the practice facility and spotted you working out in the gym.
I must've stared at you for an hour, trying to will my feet to move toward you, but I couldn't.
For one, too many of your teammates were around. For two, after spending the night before with you, I didn't think you'd ever let me go so ...
Anyway, I don’t feel nervous about telling Tully the truth anymore. I'm not sure how I'll feel regarding other people knowing, but if you promise that you won't care, I'll try my best not to either.
Love,
Scarlett
PS: I have this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach about spending time with her this coming Saturday. It's hard to explain, but I wonder if I should cancel or ask her to meet another day.
Please tell me this is all in my head.
Dear Easton,
Scarlett regained consciousness today.
Her eyes fluttered open, then she looked at me for a very long time.
I didn't call the nurses in case I was imagining things. Instead, I asked her to blink three times if she knew who I was.
She didn’t blink, though.
She said, “I know exactly who you are.”
I asked if she remembered you and she said, “My boyfriend.”
PS: I’ll write back to you as long as you keep writing back to me. Let’s talk about lighter things, okay? I’ll give you updates each time, but…I could really use a friend, too…
47
EASTON
A Year & a Half Later
Every day in prison is a routine, but no day feels the same.
Since the amount of letters I receive at mail call is impossible to keep up with, I give most of them to my cellmate and he writes back as if he's me with glee.
“Hey,” he says, flipping through today's envelopes. “Didn't you say only ones from Tully are off limits?”
“Yeah.” I jump down from the bunk and grab the letter from his hands.
It's not a direct letter, though.
It’s this month’s “Pray for Tully and Scarlett” update from my old church.
“Not that one,” he says, handing me a pink envelope. “This one.”
I take it and stare at the words in fucking disbelief.
Dear Easton,
This is the last letter I’ll ever write to you.
My sister is now moving into another state of recovery at the Harriet Long-term Care Facility, but we’ve spent the past several months reconnecting and getting to know each other better.
It’s been hard opening old wounds, but the late night conversations and tears are worth the laughter that comes in the morning.
We’re starting a new chapter of our lives together, with new boundaries, and new dreams, and we think it’s best if we close the chapter on this one.
Scarlett wants you to know that she’ll always love you, but she doesn’t want you to write back. She asked me to include a final question, and she wants you to know that she chooses option B.
Question:
If you couldn’t be with the love of your life because doing so would hurt the both of you in different ways, but you never wanted to love anyone else, what would you do?
A. Try to be with him anyway. Love is a hundred times stronger than fate.
B. Write him one (or two) final letters and tell him how you feel, but make it clear that you have to move on in different directions for now.
C. Ghost him. He’ll eventually get the point.
I Wish You Well,
Tully
There’s no way she means this shit…
48
Easton’s next letter arrives on a Saturday, tucked between an overdue internet bill and a gardening brochure. Addressed to “You, I’m So Sorry,” it’s as if it pained him to pen my name.
My first thought is to pretend it never came, to toss it out with the ads for tools I’ll never buy since I told him not to write me back, but curiosity has a strange way of overpowering common sense.