Page 36 of By the Letter

“You can rest easy. Take care of yourself and Beanie, knowing I’m doing my damnedest, Shira. If it can be saved, I will.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

It was astounding to hear her thank me after everything. Now that I was beginning to see the truth of who she was, my treatment of her shamed me. There was no rewriting history, though. I could only push forward with my friendship campaign and hope one day the animosity I’d created between us could be left in the rearview.

“Yes, well…” I straightened, brushing my hands off on my pants. “I should leave you to your weekend.”

“Oh, all right.” Before I could stop her, she leaped down from the counter. Her landing was featherlight, but my heart dropped straight to my feet like it weighed a thousand pounds. “I’ll get your spare key.”

She moved around the kitchen with grace while I stood there like a buffoon with my mouth hanging open. When she came to me, a key in her upturned palm, I hadn’t yet gotten control of my jaw.

“Here you go.” Her head tipped back as she offered me the key.

I looked down at her, suddenly viscerally aware of her delicate stature. This small woman was carrying my child in a rough, vicious world. How was that safe? How was I supposed to function when she was hopping off counters and walking down sidewalks where anyone could jostle her or…Christ, much worse things.

“No more climbing on counters,” I groused, unable to keep the anger out of my tone. I wasn’t angry at Shira. It was the loss of control.

She, however, didn’t know that, and her flinch told me so. “Oh, okay,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Shira,” I growled. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I just want you to be safe.”

“Okay. I won’t do it again.” Chewing on her bottom lip, she shoved the key toward me. “Your key.”

I slid it out of her hand, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. Snapping at this woman wasn’t going to earn me her friendship or trust. I couldn’t treat her like one of my rugby teammates or brothers.

“I’ll be back in the morning, but text or call if you need anything else before then, all right?”

All I got was a nod.

With a brief goodbye, I got out of there as quickly as I could so I didn’t do any more damage to the minuscule progress I’d made.

Chapter Fourteen

Shira

Over the next threeweeks, I only caught brief glimpses of Roman. As promised, he came every morning to clean Mary’s litter box, and I was often woken to my girl meowing her head off at him and Roman responding gruffly about picking up her shit. My cat giving him a hard time made me irrationally pleased since I didn’t have it in me to do so.

I’d sort of expected him to drop his promise as the days dragged on, but he showed up every morning. After that first day, he’d begun to leave me gifts and notes. Always juice or a smoothie, and often some kind of pastry too. Since I was no longer throwing up after every bite I took, I left him a note strongly encouraging him to keep the pastries coming.

The next day, he’d brought me two.

Shira,

I’ll feed you anything you want. Tell me your favorite food, and I’ll make sure you have it.

BTW - Mary still hates me.

Roman

I’d left a little letter on the counter for him to find when he returned in the morning.

Roman,

Everything is starting to taste really, really good. Especially that mango tart you brought me. And the blueberry Danish. I like the smoothies too. None of the food you’ve brought me has gone to waste.

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