But, suddenly, I had every intention of finding out.
Had Mia been capable of being friends with Liv just to keep an eye on her? Yup. She had even been crazy enough to pull it off. I was already going to be livid if that were the case. But, if I found out that her final words to me had been written out of jealousy, I was going to lose my fucking mind.
There was only one way to truly know.
After the world’s quickest shower, I donned my hearing aids and headed out in search of the only remaining pieces of Mia March.
Twenty minutes later, Liv and I stood on the front porch of a familiar, brick, two-story house in the middle of the suburbs. Liv had called when we’d left the gym and said that Mrs. March seemed excited that I was finally coming by. I was so damn nervous about what I was going to find in my letter that I couldn’t even bring myself to worry about what I was going to say to Mia’s parents.
That all changed when Mrs. March opened the door.
Mia had gotten her mom’s deep, green eyes, and the sight of them smiling up at me caused my heart to wrench.
“Hey there,” she said cheerfully, pushing to her toes to give me a hug.
It wasn’t quite the greeting I had been expecting, but I wouldn’t complain.
Mr. March was standing behind her, and no sooner had his wife released me than he extended a hand in my direction.
“Good to see you again, son.”
“You too, sir.”
“I saw your last fight on HBO. You should be proud.” He smiled as if I hadn’t threatened his life the last time he’d seen me.
“Thank you,” I said, following him into the large family room I’d spent numerous nights in with Mia.
I’d never been so thankful for the distraction of that letter until I was in that room. It would have been easy to get lost in the memories, and I had a feeling I wouldn’t have been left in one piece on the other end of that journey back in time.
Mrs. March stepped in front of me and offered a hot-pink envelope in my direction. “As much as we’d love to catch up, I’m sure you’re eager to read this.”
I stared at the envelope for several seconds before gathering the nerve to take it from her hands. You would have thought it was filled with anthrax for the way my pulse spiked when my fingers made contact.
“We’ll give you a minute,” Liv said, squeezing my forearm. The quiver in her voice was obvious to everyone—but especially me.
I never tore my eyes away from my name written in Mia’s handwriting as I caught her elbow. “Stay.”
“Are you sure?”
My words might have been firm, but my eyes were pleading as I looked up at her. “If this goes downhill, I’m going to need someone to keep me from losing it.”
She released a loud sigh of relief. “Okay. I’ll stay.”
Walking from the room, Mrs. March called out, “Well, if you two need anything, just holler. Oh, and, Quarry, my wedding china is in that cabinet.” She pointed across the room. “Please leave it standing.”
It was a joke, but I still felt like a dick that she’d felt the need to make it.
“Look, I’m really sorry about…well, everything.”
She smiled warmly. “We may have known about the tumor, but we got letters from Mia, too. The second paragraph of mine was devoted to apologizing for whatever hell you caused after finding out she was gone. She threatened to haunt me if I had you arrested for any of it.” She giggled, but her eyes filled with tears, revealing her true emotions. “I miss her so much. I wouldn’t even mind a ghost right about now. So don’t tempt me, okay?”
I chuckled around the lump in my throat. “I’ll steer clear of the china.”
“That’d be nice.”
With one last grin, they left me and Liv alone—together.
Less than five seconds after that, I slid a stack of folded, white notebook paper from the envelope.
Quarry,
Surprise! I’m dead!
I’d worry that it was too soon for that joke, but I’m assuming you aren’t reading this thirty seconds after I took my last breath. You’ve been known to hold a mean grudge. I’m also going to assume that Liv caved first and it took her rushing to your house, screaming that I didn’t love her, to drag your ass here today.
Am I right?
You should probably put her out of her misery and give her the last two pages. That’s her real letter. And tell her I love her. TONS. And TONS. And like fourteen more than that.
Don’t question it. Just do it!
A laugh bubbled from my throat. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Mia had manipulated us from the grave. She was a nut.
Liv tipped her head in question as she studied me warily. “You okay?”
“Um…she says she loves you tons. And tons. And like fourteen more than that.”
Her chin began to quiver as I peeled the back two pages off and handed them her way.
“That’s your letter.”
Snatching them from my hands, she yelled, “Turn around!”
“What? Why?”