Page 66 of Last Letters to Ara
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
“We make a good team.” Theo powers up his laptop, opens a free graphic design program, and turns it my way. “I use it to put together book cover concepts, but they also have tons of flier templates.”
“This is amazing, thank you.” I start scrolling through the different templates, and find so many good options that I instantly dive in, starting on the first one.
“Take your time, I’ll just enjoy the view,” Theo says with a smirk.
I snort. “What view?”
There’s nothing around besides a beat-up Toyota Corolla, empty parking spots, and storefronts. I look up to see what he’s talking about and find that he’s staring at me. His eyes have that sparkle to them, that special look reserved just for me that I haven’t been able to decipher.
I can’t resist the grin that fights its way to my lips. “Weapons down, remember?”
He puts his hands up in surrender. “No weapons, just my thoughts to keep me company while you work.”
Theo let his dark waves do their worst today, with no hair gel in sight. I’ve come to adore this version of him. He’s got a navy blue Henley on, with light blue jeans, both perfectly fitted, paired with white Converse that are impossibly clean. I can’t decide whether his clothes are unusually well-made, or if he’s just so wonderfully put together that everything looks better on him. How did he ever find his way into the chair across from me?
“Penny for your thoughts?”
I don’t shy away this time. “I was just thinking that I’d never believed in fate before.”
“And now?”
I shrug. “Dad always said that we are the masters of our own universe, but I never really believed that either.”
“And yet?”
“And yet, neither explanation seems to help me figure out how you found your way into my life. Or why you decided to stay.”
Theo gets this look on his face, as if he’s torn between happiness and pain, remembering something that is as beautiful as it is tragic. “I think that sometimes there are many universes at play, not just our own and I think they find a way to overlap, changing our trajectory.”
I mull this over and decide to ask what I’ve been too afraid to. “Which universe sent you to the airport that night? Why did you decide to talk to me?”
Theo swallows hard. “In all the time that you’d been sitting there, you had looked lost, devastated even, as if you were looking for someone in the crowd but couldn’t find them. I was planning to get up and leave you to it, but then you smiled, and I felt my trajectory switch in an instant. I lost contact with everything else, needing to know what it was that made you smile.”
His words…hisconfession...reach the deepest parts of me. “I wish you could have met my dad, somehow I just know that you would havelovedhim.” My voice wavers, but I’ve wanted to share this for a while. “I know he would’ve liked you, too. Dad didn’t normally establish much affection for people other than me, but something tells me it would’ve been different with you.”
“Something tells me that you’re right.” Theo’s eyes glass over, voice cracking as if heunderstandswhat the world lost when cancer claimed Dad. As if Theo mourns him too. He must feel exactly the same way about his mother.
Seeing his emotion is almost enough to keep me from realizing that I’m on uneven footing yet again. I’ve told Theo why I was at the airport, and Theo still hasn’t revealed whyhewas there. ”Why were you at the airport?”
Theo looks down for a moment, seeming to gather himself. When he looks back up, the twisted emotions from a moment ago have been replaced with a mischievous smile. “Maybe fate exists after all.”
He stands to kiss me on the cheek, sending shock waves through my body, my cheek being the epicenter. “I’ve got to run. I promised Connor that I’d help him set up for his gig tonight. You can keep the laptop as long as you need.” Theo walks away, leaving me floored and full of more questions than I have answers to.
What’s bothering me the most is that I can’t shake the feeling that he isn’t telling me everything and I can’t understand why he would have to keep his reason for being there a secret.
Present - Ara
LOU BURSTS INTOmy apartment, nearly dropping our pizzas everywhere. “Help!’
I rush to grab the giant bottles of soda and whatever is in the smaller boxes, garlic bread judging by the fucking amazing smell, as she stabilizes the pizzas just in time.
“I’m glad I had the right apartment. Can you imagine if I busted in, screaming at a naked old dude?” Lou laughs and looks around, setting the boxes on my counter. “I like your place!”
I think of poor old Melvin who lives across from me and cringe. “Why didn’t you just call me to come down?”
“Um, hello?” Lou sends a puzzled look my way. “I needed to get it all in one trip, by myself, or die trying.”
