“Box number 482 please,” I said, handing the PO Box key to the clerk behind the counter.

“Sure thing Ms. Newton,” The clerk, an older man by the name of Tom, disappeared into the back room. He emerged a minute later with my key in one hand and my mail in the other. “Here you are Ms. Newton.”

“Thanks Tom,” I replied, taking my key and mail and slipping them into my bag. Then I turned and walked out into the light Seattle mist.

I didn’t look at my mail until I had reached the Starbucks on the corner, had bought my morning coffee and had sat down on my favorite chair by the window. Then I began to flip through my mail.

“Fan letter, fan letter, bill, fan letter, bill, bill,” I muttered as I looked at each item and sorted them into piles, “fan letter, and no, wait.”

I flipped back to the previous letter and looked at it in interest. The return address read 225 Munn Road Fort Mill, SC 29715.

“Why am I getting something from my old high school?” I put down the rest of the mail and my coffee lay forgotten as I opened the letter which read:

Dear Ms. Newton,

I extend my congratulations for your successes and would like to extend an invitation to you. As you are well aware, it has been ten years since we have graduated and left these hallowed halls of learning. There are many friends that you have not seen in these ten long years.

This is precisely why I am writing to you. We are hosting a ten year reunion at Fort Mill High School on the 25th-30th of June. I hope that you will be able to attend. Please return the attached response form by the date of May 25th letting us know if you are able to attend. I hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Garrison

Principal FMHS

I reread the letter and thought for a second. Perhaps it would be nice to get out of Seattle for a while. It’s not like I had anything tying me to the place. I checked my calendar to be sure that I didn’t have a book signing that week, but my calendar was completely devoid of commitments. It looked like I was going to be attending my ten year high school reunion. I grinned, thinking of seeing my old friends like Holly and Yesenia, the ones that I hadn’t seen for ten years. I wondered how they were doing.

I was startled out of my stupor by a voice, “You are in here every morning.”

I looked up to see a man about my age smiling at me. He had curly brown hair and blue eyes and he was just about the best looking man I had seen off of the silver screen since I moved to Seattle three years ago.

“What can I say?” I replied, smiling back at him, “I have to have my morning coffee. Caffeine withdrawals are not the most pleasant experience.”

He laughed, “Can I sit here?”

“May.” I corrected automatically then realized what I had said. “Oh, I’m sorry. I have a bad habit of correcting grammar. But sure, you can sit there.”

He laughed again and sat down in the seat next to mine, “Caleb Kincaid.”

“Lila Newton.” I shook his hand.

His eyebrows shot up, “The Lila Newton, as in, the author, Lila Marie Newton?”

I laughed, “That’s me. Lila Marie Newton, although I usually just go by Lila. And you’re Caleb Kincaid, the youngest board member of Starbucks ever.”

“Ah, so you’ve heard of me.”

“Out testing your own product? Checking unsuspecting customers to see if your coffee works?”

“You’ve got me,” he grinned, “Promise you won’t warn anyone?”

I crossed my heart and said the childhood mantra, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“Actually, I run this branch myself. I get tired of the board meetings sometimes and like to go back to the old days, selling coffee and bossing employees around.”

“Sounds like the life,” I replied and saw the clock on the wall, “Oh, I’m sorry but I have got to go. I’m due at a meeting with my publisher in ten minutes.”

I slipped my mail into my bag and grabbed my half-forgotten cup of coffee which was still hot. Ah the miracles of Starbucks.

“I’ll see you around then, since you own this place,” I smiled at Caleb.

“Tomorrow morning,” he smiled back, “I’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

I nodded and left, hurrying back out into the Seattle mist and sipping my coffee as I went, thinking jumbled thoughts of high school reunions and cute Starbucks board members as I went.

Love From,
MotherCrumpet