Page 31 of A Little Love Song in Seabury
‘But why?’
‘Maybe… have a look at it first?’
Will frowned, staring down at the piece of paper in his hands. It was just a plain white envelope. He turned it over, only tocome face to face with his own name, printed in Leah’s neat handwriting.
‘It’s for me,’ he said in surprise.
‘Duh,’ said Connie.
‘What is it?’ said Will.
‘How should we know?!’ said Matt. ‘Does that envelope look open to you?’
Will shook his head. His heart was racing.
It wasn’t in the least bit unusual for Leah to have bits of his correspondence tucked away in her bag. She took care of everything like that. So why did this innocent-looking envelope have the hairs on the back of his neck prickling?
He started to slide a finger under the seal.
‘You’re not going toopenit, are you?’ gasped Connie, her face a curious mix of horror and intrigue.
‘Of course I am!’ said Will. ‘It’s got my name on it.’
‘In Leah’s writing,’ said Rosie. ‘Fromherbag.’
‘It’s probably just tickets, or a booking slip or something,’ said Will. Though why would Leah put his name on something like that? Why put it in an envelope?
Whatever.
He quickly tore into it before the others could intervene and pulled out a single piece of folded paper.
Will opened it, read the short letter, then closed his eyes.
No. This couldn’t be happening!
‘What is it?’ said Connie.
‘It’s Leah’s resignation letter,’ said Will, his voice tight. ‘She’s leaving me.’
‘But… why?!’ said Rosie, her eyes wide.
‘She doesn’t really say,’ said Will.
‘May I read it?’ said Matt.
Will shrugged and handed the piece of paper over. What did it matter now? He’d lost her. By the time he was ready to head out on his next tour, Leah Martin would no longer be at his side.
‘I don’t buy it,’ said Matt, shaking his head. ‘She says she’s leaving topursue other opportunities. Like what?’
‘That’s just what you say when you don’t know what’s next,’ said Rosie.
Connie nodded, stealing the letter from Matt and scanning it with wide eyes. ‘Yeah. Reading between the lines, I reckon she doesn’t want to leave. But, for some reason, she thinks she has to.’
‘Maybe because she’s in love with her boss?!’ said Rosie.
‘What should I do?!’ said Will, doing his best to ignore the fact that his heart was doing a good impression of an entire percussion section.
‘Make hernotwant to leave,’ said Ewan with a shrug.
