Page 60 of A Pen Pal for Christmas

She was pale, her eyes wide and uncertain. “Hudson, what is this? That doesn’t… that’s not how he usually writes.”

“No,” I said, my voice firm. “It’s not.”

I kept my expression calm, or as calm as I could manage, but inside, my thoughts raced. This wasn’t just someone playing games. This was personal. Intentional. And whoever wrote this? They knew enough about Sofia to make her feel seen in the worst possible way.

I dipped my head to catch her gaze. “It’s not from your pen pal, Sofia. Not the one you’ve been talking to all this time.”

She knew that, but I repeated it for good measure, hoping it would calm whatever storm was brewing behind her eyes. Ididn’t want her falling into old patterns of thinking she’d trusted someone who wasn’t what he seemed.

Her brow furrowed at the reminder, but she nodded. “Right… and it’s not just what he wrote. The handwriting is wrong.”

“I know.”

“It’s like the note on my car,” she breathed.

I swallowed hard, hating every second of this. “Whoever’s been messing with you is using the pen pal thing to do it now, but we’re going to find out who he is. We’re going to put a stop to it.”

“How? How do we do that?”

“I don’t know yet,” I admitted, straightening and glancing toward Joan and Ida, who were watching us with concern from the desk. “But I’m going to start by getting some answers.”

She nodded, her shoulders sinking slightly like the fight had gone out of her. I didn’t blame her.

I tucked the letter into my pocket. “Stay here,” I said gently. “I’ll be right back.” I didn’t wait for her to respond before striding toward the desk.

Joan straightened as I approached, her curious gaze darting to my pocket where I’d tucked the letter. “You didn’t write that letter, did you?” she asked, her voice tinged with worry.

I leaned against the desk, lowering my voice so Sofia wouldn’t hear. “So it’s true? I’m Sofia’s pen pal?”

Joan blinked, and Ida looked sheepish, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of the desk. “Well, can you blame us? You’re clearly a perfect match.”

Looking over my shoulder at Sofia, my heart squeezed painfully in my chest. “I agree, but I’ll have to thank you for your meddling later because this letter? The one you found this morning? No. It wasn’t from me. Someone else wrote it. And now, they’re using the pen pal thing to get into her head.”

Joan’s hand flew to her mouth, her face paling. “Oh no.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to piece everything together. Whoever this was, they were close—too close. Enough that they were able to blend in at the inn and slip an already addressed letter into the box without anyone noticing.

“What did it say?” Joan asked quietly.

I shook my head. The words from the letter had burned into my brain, each one threatening the calm I was trying to maintain. A line had been crossed. Those weremywords that’d been making Sofia so happy for the last few weeks.Ourconnection that we’d built over however many hours with paper and pen. He didn’t get to do this. I wouldn’t let him take this away.

“Hudson?” Sofia asked as she came up behind me. “What’s going on?”

I turned, and the look in her eyes knocked the wind out of me. Confusion. Fear. And something so raw that it made my chest ache.

“You’re my pen pal,” I said, the words tumbling out in a low rasp before I could stop them.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

Joan flinched, clearly wishing she could disappear. “I think I’ll… uh… go check on something in the kitchen.”

Ida, however, stayed put, watching us with thinly veiled curiosity until Joan doubled back. She took my aunt by the hand, guiding her away.

As soon as they were gone, I stepped closer to Sofia. “It’s true. Joan and Ida paired us up. The letters I wrote—they were to you. And yours came to me.”

Sofia stared at me, her lips parting slightly before closing for a beat. “But why didn’t you say anything? Why… Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know. Not until you said something in the square about what your pen pal said to you, and I remembered writing something like that. And even then, I wasn’t sure. Not completely. But Joan and Ida just confirmed it.”

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