Page 114 of Yours, Forever

It wasn't the same without Max around.

Ale came out of the backroom with a few papers in hand. "Hey. I left a few notes in the accounting program. It's about some categorizations. Can you look at it later?"

I nodded and leaned back against the counter, eyes on the empty armchair. I sighed again.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Ale crossed her arms. "Too quiet."

"Remember when he came that first night? How hard I fought it at first?"

She chuckled. "Yeah. Now here we are. Missing him. How dare he?"

"How dare he, indeed."

How dare he turn my life upside down, and make me prefer the new version. How dare he go into a city that could remind him of everything Laguna Island didn't have. How dare he make me miss him so much.

I had to bite the inside of my cheek not to release yet another sigh.

Rose, our town's spicy elderly lady, came into the café and saved me from spiraling.

"Hello, girls," she said. "I would love a hazelnut latte this afternoon."

"For sure," I said, and got to work.

Without me having to add more, Ale seamlessly moved in to process payment.

"Where is that handsome husband of yours?" Rose asked. "I've been working on a limerick to delight him with."

I snorted and shook my head. "He's in London, Rose. You still have time to work on it."

"Want to hear it?" She grinned. "A handsome young man from the city, fell hard for a small town kitty—"

I groaned. "Rose!"

Ale laughed. "No, no! I want to hear it!"

Rose's voice became even louder. "So hard he seduced, this cat so obtuse, her night cries were turned into ditties!"

The patrons around us laughed right alongside Ale, while I covered my face and snorted through my fingers. Max wouldloveto hear this limerick.

"I'm still working on it," Rose added. "I considered playing withtitties instead, but I'm not sure how to make it fit yet."

"Max will happily help you, I'm sure. Never mind how embarrassing it is to be compared to a kitty."

"Oh, it has to rhyme withcity, or I would have said pus—"

"Uhm… excuse me?" Donovan, a young man working at the post office, gazed at the commotion in confusion.

"Yes?" I ignored everyone and put my eyes on the poor kid. I didn't hear him come in. "How can I help you?"

"I have a… telegram? For Eva Medina. That's you, right?" He offered a simple envelope.

Lightning ran down my center, thunder resounding in my stomach. Butterflies were too simple, too gentle a descriptor for my reaction to Donovan's statement.

I took the envelope from him with trembling hands, and opened it. Everyone watched me in silence and waited patiently for my update.

TURNS OUT SENDING A TELEGRAM IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO ONLINE THESE DAYS STOP

AND THAT THEY HOLD IN COURT AS OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION STOP