Page 62 of So in Love
He nodded grimly.“Yes, that seems to be the one thing we may never know.”
“So frustrating.”
“Agreed.It’s really too bad the present-day Stowes didn’t have any information.”
Yes, it was.
Crystal chatted with Darryl for a bit longer, and they plotted their next move.She was eager to share this information with Kelsey and the others.If she could get the letters, or at least copies, that would be a huge contribution to the Ribbon Ridge exhibit.
Which opened in about two and a half weeks.
Crystal doubted they could get them by then, but held out hope that it would be possible to find them.She left in an even better mood than she’d arrived, which was crazy.Not that she would complain.It felt good to feel good.She smiled at her corniness as she drove home.
Except it wasn’t home.Why was she making that mistake?
Before she could reflect on that, which was for the best, really, Alaina waved at her as she pulled into the driveway.She waited outside the garage as Crystal parked and strolled inside as Crystal was getting out of the car.
“Hey, I just came over to get some toilet paper.”She winced.“Yes, I ran out.Your theory that I overstock is now officially debunked.”
“Not really.Since you have some over here, I’d say that theory’s still in play.”
Alaina rolled her eyes.“You’re a dork.”
Crystal blew her a kiss.“One of the many reasons you love me.”She went into the house and Alaina followed.“I’ll grab you some, hang on.”
She went to the hallway closet where there was probably three months’ worth of toilet paper.As well as tissue, Q-tips, bandages, and an assortment of other items.But no condoms.
Traipsing back with a package of TP, she set it on the kitchen counter.“That closet is the definition of overstocked, except when it comes to prophylactics.You might want to consider stockingthose.”
Alaina laughed.“Well, now that I know you need them, I’ll do that.”She pulled her phone from her pocket.“I’ll just text Evan.He’s making a Costco run.”She looked up from the screen.“They sell condoms, right?”
“Oh, put that away,” Crystal said, now taking her own turn to roll her eyes.“I can get my own condoms.And I definitely don’t need the Costco-sized box.”
Alaina narrowed one eye at her.“Are you sure?”
Thinking back over the time she spent with Jamie… “Have him get the condoms.”
With a giggle, Alaina texted her husband.“Evan will find this amusing.”
“I’m sure he will.”Crystal grabbed an iced tea from the fridge.“You want a sparkling water?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“I just met with Darryl.You won’t believe the awesome goodness he found—an in-depth newspaper story compiled from letters written by…” She paused for dramatic effect.“Dorinda.”
Alaina’s eyes widened.“Shut the front door!”
“Totally serious.It was written in 1918.And now I’m on a mission to see if those letters still exist.”She went on to tell Alaina what the article had revealed.
“Wow, such great information for your story.Are you excited?You seem excited.”
“I am.”In fact, she was itching to sit and write.She had a ton of notes she wanted to make.Plus, she wanted to reread the story and make more notes.Dorinda’s story was finally coming together in her mind, and she couldn’t wait to put it on paper and share it with the world.
If she was lucky.For starters, she’d share it with Kim.
“You know, I’ve talked to Sean about this, and we’re pretty enthusiastic about producing this.”
Crystal hesitated in taking a drink from her iced tea.Alaina’s tone seemed to say it was a done deal—that theywereproducing it.But then she didn’t know that Crystal had talked to Kim, and that Kim would be shopping it.
