Page 69 of Heartstruck at Dawn
Ohhh!So that’s… Not what I thought it was.
“Ah, yes! Hi Luna.”
“Alice is my personal assistant, and Luna’s just tagging along because she loves being around me so much.” William teased her.
“For free.” Luna snorted with a smile and walked away. “See you around, Billie.” Luna moved another box inside, and Alice was now instructing the movers where to put some chairs.
William seemed to enjoy my reactions. I was so embarrassed about having accused him of the threesome. My face surely indicated my surprise because he stepped closer to me and whispered, “Threesomes aren’t my thing. I don’t like sharing.”
I bit the inside of my lip, not knowing what else to say. I felt so stupid.
“Can you give me two seconds?” William asked. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He walked up to Alice and said something to her, but I couldn’t hear a thing from where I stood. Alice rushed inside and came out with two white envelopes like the one he used to send the film rolls and the photograph a few months ago.
“Here you go,” William said, giving them to me. They both saidGuillermina Murphyon the outside and were numbered 1 and 2,respectively.Deja vu.“Since we’re next-door neighbors now, there’s no use for me to walk downstairs and put these in your mailbox.”
I narrowed my eyes at him with curiosity. I wanted to rip the envelopes to pieces and reveal their contents as a child does on Christmas morning.
“It took me a while to find what’s in envelope number one. Well, it tookAlicea while,” he said with a faint laugh. “But envelope number two is my personal favorite.”
I kept staring at the envelopes, hoping I had x-ray vision.
“I thought you were moving out of the building when I saw the crane moving the piano.” I kept feeling the envelopes in my hands, trying to guess what was inside them. Both of them felt flat and smooth.
“And how did that make you feel?” He tilted his head, expecting an answer, it seemed.
“Relieved.”
He laughed a hearty laugh that got under my skin in a fraction of a second. But yeah, how could I blame him for laughing when I didn’t believe it myself. “Sorry to disappoint you but, I wouldneverabandon you like that,” he said with a wink.
He turned around and walked toward the pile of boxes still waiting to be moved inside his apartment. “I told you I was going to show you the truth.” He turned around and jerked his chin at the envelopes. “You’re holding it in your hands. Let me know what you make of it.”
THE ENVELOPES WEREtwo beating Jumanji drums that wouldn’t stop pounding, urging me to open them. I could hear the furniture being dragged on the floor beside my room—still unable to grasp the fact that William was going to sleep a wall away from my bed every single night.
Anyway.
Envelope number one included another smaller envelope inside that read,I’m sorry,and one of those tabloid magazines dated November 2008—a year ago. The cover showed a photograph of William and Erin on a red carpet event. The title of the picture read:
William & Erin’s Secret Romance!
There was a red tab stuck to one page of the magazine. I opened it there to see half a page dedicated to the details of their relationship. I didn’t feel like reading it. The article came with a paparazzi shot of William and Erin walking down the street holding hands and another one of them having ice cream—thesamephotographs I saw a few weeks ago on the magazine stand and Sophie’s phone.
OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!Still in shock, I opened the letter.
Hej älskling,
I’m so sorry about everything.I should’ve listened to what you had to say after what happened with Thomas.My pride blinded me,and I admit that I was wrong.I know I don’t deserve an opportunity to explain myself,but I can’t live in a world where you think I’m a liar and a cheat.I know I have a past,and I can’t change it,but I would never lie to you.Let me prove it to you.Please forgive me.
Forever yours,
W.S.
P.S. Can I have my green hair tie with the golden stars back?
A tear streamed down my cheek, falling on William’s letter. I quickly brushed it off, swallowed down the rest, and shook the paper to dry it out. This letter I would never dare tear apart like the first one he sent me—forever mine. And yes, I still had that green hair tie. It was inside my nightstand drawer.
I took a deep breath and opened envelope number two. There was another tabloid magazine with the day’s date: November 28, 2009. One of the few titles on the cover read:
