Letters from Home (Entangled Flirts) Read Free Page B

with a snap and twisted the top. “Honey, it doesn’t matter how many love letters this guy sent you. You need to get a little uncomfortable if you want a man to notice.”
    The youngest of seven and still in high school, her sister Cat, in turn, could be aggravating or cute. This fit both bills.
    “I don’t need a man to notice me, for crying out loud.” An unexpected warmth rose on her neck, and she cleared her throat. “Besides, Phillip didn’t care what I was wearing last night.”
    “Because he’s desperate,” Cat said, picking up her coat from the chair.
    “Hey.” Lena didn’t usually let her sister bug her. Her brain knew Cat had a lot to learn about life in general, but her heart took that particular punch in a soft spot, and it hurt. She’d spent most of her life in school or the Army, and never had a serious relationship. She knew that made her the oddball. She’d always been outside the norm. Still… “Phillip seemed like a nice guy.”
    Cat dropped the coat and came around the bed to take Lena in her arms. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Not desperate because he likes you .” She pulled back and held Lena’s shoulders.
    Lena almost had to look up. When had her sister gotten so tall? Just like Papi.
    “He’s got the kids, no wife,” she continued. “He needs someone to take care of them.”
    “Maybe he’s lonely, too.”
    Cat shrugged. “Just be careful. Don’t get all wrapped up in his life on a chance he might have written some love letters. There are other resolutions to loneliness.”
    She’d been hearing the warnings since letter one. Around letter four, she’d hit a wall—lonely, tired, sick—and that letter had been the one thing keeping her head above water. The person who’d written those letters had known exactly what she needed. How?
    She didn’t know. But even if nothing came from meeting him, she was going on Christmas morning to thank him for being a friend. “I need to find that letter.”
    “I’ll help you look…later. I’ve got a hot date right now.” Cat waggled her eyebrows with an infectious grin. “Todd is taking me to the park, then to the movies, a matinee. Afterward, we’re going to eat at Tremonts.”
    Lena rolled her eyes as she rummaged through her top drawer. She was listening to advice from her high school sister. “That’s sweet. Todd’s a nice guy?”
    “Oh yeah. He’s wonderful…”
    The pregnant pause made Lena looked up.
    “I think we might get married.”
    “What?” Lena’s hands fell into the drawer, lifeless. Married? “Have Mom and Papi completely lost their minds?”
    “Well, we’re not making plans or anything.” Cat blushed. “We’re really in love.”
    Lena gritted her teeth. “I hope so.”
    Cat disappeared around the corner. “See ya’ later.”
    “Married. Sheesh,” Lena muttered. Had she ever been that ridiculous? “Dang it!” Where was that stupid thing? She walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers one at a time. The afghan hit the floor. Sheets, pillows. Nothing.
    It could have fallen out of her pocket downstairs.
    Maybe it was a sign. God was probably telling her to put aside false hopes, that everyone was right. The letters were stupid.
    After throwing on her jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt, Lena found her mom and dad in the kitchen. Mom with a cup of coffee, and Papi with the morning paper.
    “Good morning.” She crossed the linoleum floor and kissed her mother’s cheek. “You’re not working, Papi?”
    He was rolling the paper as she spoke. He tucked it into his back pocket, kissed her mother, then came around and put an arm on her shoulders. “I’m off now.”
    Her dad ran the hardware store in town, had been running it for almost forty years.
    Lena’s heart clenched a little as he left. He looked good, strong. But he wasn’t getting any younger, either. She worried. “He’s not working too hard, is he, Mami?”
    Her mother’s pointed look caused her to blush. “Your