Page 382 of Face Off

“She should see you aren’t alone here.”

I look at him.

His attention remains on the picture, but the reason beneath the words belongs to both of us. Charm needs to know Milwaukee isn’t only the place where I suffered without her. It is the city where I built something after surviving.

Briggs taps the picture against the table before returning it.

“I have practice early,” he says.

“We both do.”

“You’ll stay up all night writing.”

“Probably.”

He starts toward the door, then turns. “Don’t quote that graveyard asshole.”

“Which one?”

“The one who compares love to death.”

“That eliminates half of English literature.”

“Then quote none of them.”

“You have no appreciation for art.”

“I appreciate books where people fuck before chapter thirty.”

The door closes behind him.

I sit at the table with Charm’s jersey hanging from the back of the chair, the glass dress protected inside its box, and a collection of photographs scattered around the blank page.

Victorian literature taught generations of people to believe love became valuable through deprivation. Lovers waited, suffered, misunderstood each other, and crossed impossible distances before anyone received permission to be happy.

Charm and I have suffered enough to qualify for several volumes.

I don’t want to write about suffering tonight.

I want to remind her that beneath every betrayal, separation, and brutal truth, loving her has remained the easiest thing I have ever done.

I place the pen against the paper.

Charm,

This letter has no assignment attached.

You don’t need to confess anything, apologize for something I have finally learned how to name, or prove that you have grown since the woman I left behind.

I know you have.

Tonight, I only want to love you.

Briggs believes our letters have become emotional depositions with literary references. He has also asked Marisol Herrera to make him a cropped jersey with pink bows, so his judgment cannot be trusted.

The jersey inside this package is yours.

Marisol modified it after I explained that ordinary team merchandise lacks the level of drama you require. I told her to make it aggressively feminine. She added enough crystals to interfere with air traffic and tied bows along the sides because she has no respect for the sport.