Page 112 of All In
“There is. How about next week?” I watch him carry everything into the kitchen, and I wonder how I got so lucky. Erica and I were a mistake as a couple. But it’s crazy how that mistake created something so perfect, and for that, I will forever be grateful to her.
“Hey, Dad, what’s this?” He’s holding the envelope that was on my windshield.
I heave myself up from the couch and start walking towards the bathroom. “I think it’s a parking ticket from work.”
“But it has your name written on the front. And it says, ‘Please Read,’” he yells as I walk away. The echoing of his question stops me because that is weird.Why would I get a parking ticket with my name handwritten on the envelope?I hardly glanced at it earlier, so I didn’t notice my name or the written plea to read it.
With my curiosity piqued, I turn on my heels and head back toward the kitchen as Mikey extends the envelope to me.
As I take it from his hand, everything around me stops. In handwriting that I would recognize anywhere, my name stares back at me.
It’s from Maria.
DAMNIT! Why didn’t I open this earlier?
Thoughts of her have consumed me since Saturday. Right after I professed to her I was all in, I placed her in an Uber and sent her away to be with her hunky boyfriend. Hoping for any sign, message, or phone call from her, I clung to my phone on Sunday, making sure it was always within reach, checking it every five seconds.
But I got nothing.
Which leads me to assume that she and Geoffrey are still together.
So many times, I wanted to text her and apologize. I shouldn’t have said that to her. Told her I was ready. Ready for us. She’s in a relationship, for heaven’s sake. And from what I could tell on Saturday, a happy one.
But there was no way I was letting her slip from my grasp again without telling her where my heart was at. And if I get nothing from her in return, I’m ready to accept that.
But now, this envelope is taunting me.
Mikey interrupts my internal rambling. “Are you going to open it?” I have no clue how long I have been standing here holding and staring at it.
As I flip it over, hope builds in my chest. My finger slips under the glued flap. Paper ripping tears through my ears as well as the heavy expectancy in the kitchen. I pull out a blue-lined piece of paper.
A letter. She wrote me a letter.
I unfold it and read.
Dear Sam,
I’m all in. Meet me at our spot. I’ll be there.
Waiting all day if I have to.
Love always,
Maria
“Oh, my God.” The words spill out of my mouth because I can’t believe what I just read.
This is it.
It’s our time.
After twenty-seven years, can this actually be happening?
“Who is it from?” My son’s question brings me out of my thoughts. With urgency, I shove the letter back into the envelope and run over to the closet to get my shoes. I’ve only recently told Mikey about Maria. Not every detail, but enough for him to know what she meant to me.
As I shove my feet into my shoes, I answer him. “It’s from Maria. I have to go to Pittsburgh.”
I stand up, scanning the living room, my eyes darting over every surface, desperately searching for my keys and wallet.
