Page 11 of Come Back to Me

Favorite place… Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. No matter when I go, there’s something beautiful to see. I, unlike you, appreciate the cold, so that helps. You spend any time in the Middle East during the summer and suddenly blizzards look welcoming.

In the fall, though, the tundra’s this blanketed space of red, yellow, and orange. It’s like Mother Nature’s burning away the old to bring in the new. During wintertime, the icy roads do something to my brain.

All that white… it clears my thoughts as nothing else ever can. During the spring, there’s so much wildlife around. I was raised on a ranch so I’m used to being close to animals, but this is their place, you know? It’s not cultivated by man for men. It’s THEIRS. And I love that. As for summertime, the midnight sun is something I’ll never forget. Sheesh, thinking about Inuvik has me in my feels.

Fave person… seeing as you have me locked into not telling this Z about the crystals, you can’t tell my oldest brother (C because I can be difficult too) that he’s my favorite person. We used to be really close, but me being overseas doesn’t helpwith maintaining ties. Not only that, some massive stuff happened in our family and he’s my rock.

He’s the type of man who always has your back. As much as I can, I emulate him, but I know I fail miserably. A guy’s gotta try though. At least, if he’s not a massive piece of shit.

So, as for the killing people via first POV shooter question. No, I don’t, lol. In fact, I don’t do much ‘on the ground’ work. I fly planes. Loss of life comes with the territory though. Heavy shit.

You earned a scholarship to Juilliard? Color me impressed! What do you play? What’s your favorite song?

(Have you assessed me as a pen pal, yet?)

Butch Cassidy

Tee

Present

“What are you frowning at?”

I purse my lips at Zee’s question. I know her attention is split between me and her current task—changing out the sites for her insulin pump and CGM—but that she can sense my discomposure is irksome.

“We didn’t talk to Cody in high school, did we?”

Her head tips back. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Cody?”

I nod.

“High school?”

Exasperated, I retort, “Yes, Zee. Cody. Your brother-in-law. High school.”

“No. He was popular,” she reasons with a wry smile.

“We were too.”

“Maybe we were at the top of the tree in the unpopular crowd…”

“Hey!”

“You know it’s true. I was too gloomy and you were, well, you.”

“It’s a good thing I know you love me being me or I’d be offended.”

A smile dances on her lips as she pours rubbing alcohol onto a small cotton pad. The stench of it filters through the air, but I can honestly say I’ve missed it.

When she moved back to our hometown, I had to live without her for months. That sucked. See, me being me is more than a whacko sense of humor. I’m a protective person by nature, so her living thousands of kilometers away was killing me.

If I got an alert about her blood sugar, I couldn’t stomp into her bedroom and force-feed her gummy bears. No, I had to text her. I had to wait for her to respond. I had to spend a minute wondering if she’d passed out. If she was dying.

Melodramatic, but hey, when I love, I love hard.

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