Letters in the Night
380 Words
That evening, she found a note at her door. Handwritten. Folded simply.
Isadora,
You once said the best things you ever did were mistakes you kissed with your whole mouth.
I don’t know what this is, or what I’m doing. But I can’t stop wanting to be near you. Even in silence.
Forgive me if I’ve crossed a line.
—J
She read it three times. Then placed it beside her bedside water, heart pounding.
Chapter Six: The Voice of Reason
“You’re what? Infatuated?”
Mallory stared at her across the porcelain tea set like she’d just confessed to murdering someone with the salad fork.
Isadora rolled her eyes, pulling her robe tighter. “Don’t be dramatic, Mally.”
“No, no. I’m allowed. You’re sixty-two He’s what, twenty-eight? He can’t even rent a car in some states without a co-signer!”
Isadora sipped her tea with practiced elegance, but she didn’t meet her friend’s eyes.
Mallory went on, waving her long, manicured fingers. “Girl, are you listening to yourself? I’ve known you fifty years. You’ve survived marriages, revolutions, two ex-lovers who faked their own deaths—and now this? Now you’re blushing like a schoolgirl over a baby with tool belts and trauma?”
“He’s not a baby,” Isadora murmured.
“Oh, please,” Mallory snapped. “He’s a fetus with eyebrows.”
Isadora laughed, but her smile trembled.
“You can’t do this. You know it. I know it. Armand adores you. He’s age-appropriate, rich, cultured—”
“And boring as bran flakes.”
“—and he wouldn’t break your hip if he sneezes in bed.”
Isadora choked on her tea.
Mallory leaned in. Her voice softened.
“Issa, you’re gorgeous. You know you are. Still got hips that make a man lose his credit score. But that boy? He’s going to want children, a family. He’s got a whole life ahead of him. You’ve already lived.”
Isadora looked out the window.
“That’s what I thought,” Mallory said quietly. “Come to your senses. Before this becomes something you can’t walk away from.”
She nodded slowly. “You’re right. I needed that. I needed to hear it.”
But inside… she felt herself shatter just a little.
- Writer
