11-16-2003, 09:01 PM
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obsolete
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 617
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The weekend had dragged on interminably. Emily busied herself in the garden and played catch up with laundry and cleaning, food shopping -- all the things she didn't have time for during the week. Harvey, too, was in and out -- golf and errands, mowing the lawn; basically doing his own thing as well. They rarely did anything as a couple anymore outside of mandatory family functions which didn't seem to come very often outside of holidays.
Sunday night she'd begun counting the hours until work. Harvey gave her a few questioning glances, but he didn't ask and she certainly didn't tell. There was something intimate and deeply personal about the letters that made it seem almost sacrilegious to discuss them with anyone. Including and especially Harv.
Emily tossed and turned all night, finally waking three hours early for work. She showered and dressed, fiddling over toast and coffee until six thirty; putzed around with the computer for another half hour and finally headed out the door when she decided it wouldn't look too strange if she were only an hour and a half early for work.
The building was virtually empty when she arrived, so Emily didn't have to stop and make small talk on the way to her office. Ridiculous as it seemed, her heart was pounding with anticipation as she neared the door. Had he left another letter over the weekend or had he realized they had gone to the wrong person? Something deep inside her hoped that he had left one -- even if they weren't meant for her.
Emily paused, hand on the doorknob, closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning it. When she opened them and stepped in, the first place she looked was her desk.
Had he?
He had!
Pushing the door closed behind herself, Emily hurried to her desk. This was utterly ridiculous and she knew it -- but she just couldn't help herself. Doing as she had done for the last four mornings, Emily inhaled the fragrance of the rose before reverently picking up the envelope and removing the single sheet from inside.
She read it slowly, savoring every word and nuance. Then she read it again. She didn't recognize the lyrics and set the letter aside while she did a quick online search. Flow by Sade. She would pick up the CD at lunchtime.
And now it was time to go back to the others. What had become a ritual demanded she complete it.
Emily unlocked the drawer and removed the ornate box she kept the others in. She'd discreetly penciled numbers under the flaps to keep them in order, though she knew she'd never forget which was the first and which was the sixth, their every word so indelibly etched in her mind.
She could smell a trace of his cologne as she unlocked and lifted the lid. It was rich and musky. Manly yet sensuous. She knew that he was passionate from his words alone, though she wondered what he looked like. Not that it mattered -- but she wondered all the same.
Emily Jones sighed wistfully, adding the newest missive to the steadily growing stack and gently tucked them back into their box for safekeeping. Now she would add the rose to the vase and she could begin her day.
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