Page 48 of The Incredible Kindness of Paper
Where did you go? Are you okay?
(Letter sent but not received.)
Dear Oliver,
Why is your house dark? Why is your car gone?
Why aren’t you answering my calls?
(Letter left in mailbox. It was still there a week later when Chloe came by again.)
Oliver?
My parents called yours, but both their phone numbers have been disconnected.
Why did you leave without saying goodbye?
Howcould you leave without saying goodbye?
You said we could be forever.
(Letter never sent.)
I love you, Oliver.
I love you
I love you
I love you
Did you ever love me, too?
(Letter never sent.)
Oliver,
Come back. Please. I need you.
(Letter never sent.)
Oliver…
(Letter never finished.)
Oliver
Sixteen years ago
All the girls at Lawrence High were obsessed with charm bracelets, and Chloe was no exception. The day after Oliver kissed her, he went to the Pandora jewelry store in the mall. Because Valentine’s was tomorrow, the display cases were full of trinkets like linked hearts, x’s and o’s, and red lips.
“Excuse me,” Oliver said to one of the saleswomen. “Do you have any St. Patrick’s Day charms in the back that you haven’t put out yet? I’d really like to buy a clover.”
The woman tilted her head, confused, but a sale was a sale, and she did, indeed, find the next holiday’s stock and brought Oliver three different clovers to choose from.
There was a diamond-encrusted one that he couldn’t afford, as well as a big green enamel one. He pointed to the third, a small but delicate silver clover. “This one is perfect.”
“For your girlfriend?” the saleswoman asked with a smile.
