Page 106 of Most Likely to Fear Love

I was recently going through some old boxes in the attic and found a few items that I believe belonged to you. Although I know it’s awkward, I thought I should reach out and see if you’d like to have them back. I suspect that some of them would hold some sentimental value to you.

If you’re interested, let me know and we can arrange a time for you to collect them.

Take care.

Michelle

Frowning in confusion,I read the email again. My eyes lingered on the line about “sentimental value.” What could she have found? Had Brian taken my stuff to his other house? What the fuck?

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the words on the screen, wishing there was someone I could talk to about this. Oh god, that almost had me crying because Harle was everythingI needed right now. But nope, I was all on my own. And I needed to know how some of my belongings had ended up with Michelle.

I hesitated for a moment longer, then hit reply. My fingers hovered over the keys before I finally typed:

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate you holding onto the items.

I deletedthe words and started again.

Dear Michelle,

Thank you for contacting me about?—

No.Too formal. God, how do you even write to your ex-husband’s other wife? Was there an etiquette guide for this somewhere? I hit backspace again, harder than necessary.

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate you holding onto the items.

If it’s alright with you, I’d like to come by to collect them. Let me know when a good time would be.

Take care,

Cassidy

I stared at the “Take care”for a full minute. Was that too friendly? Too casual? But “Regards” felt cold, and “Sincerely” was just... no. My cursor blinked at me mockingly as I second-guessed every word choice.

Before I could overthink it more, I hit send. Michelle’s response came quickly. Almost too quickly. Like she’d been waiting for me to reply.

Hi Cassidy,

This Friday afternoon works well for me, if that suits you. I’m home from 4 PM onward.The address is 123 Stanton Street, Wilson, NC.

Regards

Michelle

I chewed on my lip.Friday afternoon. That was two days away. The drive to Michelle’s house was about two hours from Esperance, assuming there wasn’t traffic. A long way to go, but I needed to do this. I needed closure. And I needed to know what the fuck Brian had taken of mine.

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to calm my whirling thoughts. When I was ready, I opened them and typed my response.

Hi Michelle,

Friday works for me. I can be there around 4:30 PM.

See you then.

Cassidy

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