Page 185 of The Love Letter
‘Where have you been living?’
‘In a rehabilitation centre in Miami. Apparently the bullets I took in the abdomen grazed my spine, and I woke up with my lower body paralysed. I’m better now, although it took a long time to learn how to walk again. And no more whiskies for me any more, unfortunately.’ He gestured to the juice in front of him. ‘Bloody nice place Simon set me up in, though, all expenses paid . . .’ He grinned.
‘Good.’
They sat in silence for a while, simply staring at each other.
‘This is surreal,’ Marcus said eventually.
‘You’re telling me,’ Joanna replied.
‘I thought Simon was having me on when he called to say he was bringing me down to Mexico to meet someone I knew. I just . . . I just can’t believe you’re here.’ Marcus shook his head in wonder.
‘No . . . especially as we’re both “dead”.’
‘Maybe this is the afterlife . . . If it is –’ he swept his hand towards the beach – ‘I quite like it. And you know I’ve always had a thing for blondes . . .’
‘Mar—Casper, behave, please!’
‘Well, some things never change.’ He smiled at her, taking her hand and squeezing it. ‘I’ve missed you, Jo,’ he whispered. ‘Terribly.’
‘I’ve missed you too.’
‘So, where do we go from here?’ he asked her.
‘Anywhere we want, I suppose. The world – apart from England, of course – is our oyster.’
‘How about Brazil?’ he suggested. ‘I know of a great film project.’
Joanna chuckled. ‘Well, even MI5 might struggle to find us in the Amazon. I’m up for it.’
‘Good, come on,’ he said as he stood up. ‘Before we plan out the rest of our future together, why don’t you help what’s left of me down to the beach? I have a violent urge to lie on the sand and kiss every part of you. Even without the chocolate sauce.’
‘Okay.’ Joanna smiled and stood up too.
From his vantage point above the beach, Simon watched the young couple, their arms wound tightly around each other, walk slowly across the sand and into their new life.
Epilogue
Los Angeles, September 2017
Simon found Zoe out on a sun lounger by the pool. He looked at her still-taut body and lightly tanned skin, which didn’t seem to have aged at all in twenty years and with two pregnancies.
He kissed her on the top of her head. ‘Where are the kids?’
‘Joanna has gone off to a friend’s eighteenth party – in the shortest miniskirt I’ve ever seen, I might add – and Tom is at a baseball game. You’re home early. Was the restaurant quieter today?’
‘No, it was packed, but I came back to do some paperwork. I can’t concentrate there, even in my office – everyone keeps interrupting me. What’s that you’re reading?’ he asked as he peered over her shoulder.
‘Oh, it’s a new thriller that came out last week and everyone here is talking about it. It involves hidden secrets about the British royal family, so I thought I’d give it a go,’ she said with a smile.
His heart pounding in the way it hadn’t since he’d left his old job, Simon glanced down at the cover.
The Love Letter
By
M. Cunningham
