I crawled around searching high and low but the note was nowhere to be found. “Maybe you dropped it walking to the car on your way out?” Reagan said, trying to be hopeful.
“Reagan it’s probably in Luke’s house.” I sighed very loudly.
“Well, it was meant for him anyway, right? You’re a great writer Sutton. I’m sure whatever you wrote is perfect.”
“Reagan I like poured my heart out into that letter. It was more for my own benefit honestly. If I needed it, I was just going to take some points from it, not read him the whole thing. I really was hopeful about the way we left things today but now I’m scared I ruined it.”
“Well let’s just give it some time and see what happens. Don’t jump to conclusions. I mean things have already been super crazy in your life lately I don’t think it can really get any worse.” She laughed.
“You’re probably right.” I moaned. “I am just so embarrassed. I basically gave a love letter to a stranger.”
“Now we just wait.”
Chapter 9:
For the next twenty-four hours, I sulked and I sulked hard. I spent my time laying around in all different areas of the house staring at my phone.
Reagan and Gia did their best to pull me out of my funk but my mom told them just to give me time to get through it. I didn’t want that to be the first and last time I saw Luke. I had so much to say and so many questions and I knew he had to have them too.
“We should have gotten the pies started already.” My Aunt Helen snarled. “We have one more day and then Thanksgiving is here. So much disorganization when your mother and I were kids, Lynn, our mother, had everything prepared the day before so we could just enjoy the day.”
I rolled my eyes and doodled on the shopping list we were working on. “Aunt Helen give her a break, her daughter just woke up from a coma for God sakes.” I blurted out.
Aunt Helen just stared at me. My mom shot me a look and I saw my dad peeking in the doorway giggling, giving me a thumbs up. I had much less of a filter since my accident but I was kind of starting to like it.
I had finally been distracting myself from worrying about what was going on with Luke. I had a life before coming to Coopersville and I realized I could do whatever I wanted when I got home.
I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out and read the text that popped up on the screen. It was from a random number and it read:
Hey it’s Luke. Read your note and I’ve been thinking. Can you meet me at the Pizza Shack at 7?
My hands shook as I retyped my reply 10 times.
I’ll be there.
I texted back and hopped up from the table to find Reagan.
She and Shane were laying together on the hammock in the backyard. Shane was clearly asleep and snoring. She looked like she was dozing off too.
“Reagan” I whispered poking her in the side.
“Ouch. Yes?” She replied looking over at me.
“Luke,” I replied, handing her my phone. Her eyes lit up.
“Oh my gosh, are you freaking out?” She asked, her body spilling out of the hammock and coming to a standing position.
“I need to go shopping,” I said, pulling Reagan by the hand and heading off to find my dad. He was fixated on the football game on TV, with Gia napping with her feet in his lap.
I stood directly in front of him. “Can I help you, my beautiful daughter?” He asked, attempting to peer around me.
“Yes, you can. I only have one pair of jeans to wear here and I need something nice for Thanksgiving.”
My dad pulled his credit card out of his wallet. “Anything for you darling.” He handed it to me and I kissed him on the cheek.
Reagan and I decided to take my Jeep into town. I convinced my mom I was okay to drive and I got behind the wheel for the first time in months.
My daisy scented air freshener still hung from my mirror. I pulled it toward me and smelled it deeply. There was still a faint aroma radiating from it. I lifted open the middle console. The book I had been reading sat inside with my sunglasses placed directly on top. I pulled out the book and opened it up. I had used a tattered up receipt from the Ice Cream Hut as my bookmark.
For some reason it was still crazy to me that everything I had left at the beginning of the summer remained exactly how I had left it, untouched.
I reached down and pulled my seat belt across my body clicking it in. “You sure you don’t want me to drive?” Reagan asked, already gripping the handle that hung from the ceiling.
“What, you don’t think I’ll remember how to drive? Come on we all know I’m a good driver.” I replied. I grabbed the gear shift and reversed out of the driveway. Everything came back to me and it had been as if I’d been driving all along.
We pulled up to the only boutique in town and got out. The center looked much different than it had in June when I first arrived in Coopersville. I could still smell the saltwater in the air but that was about it. The sidewalks weren’t crowded with people and the hum that was once upbeat pop tunes was now Christmas music.
“Hello, welcome to
