I didn’t start to panic until the end of the third week in December.

Drew didn’t write me back. After a week, I wrote him another letter. This one went through several drafts and was a proper love letter. I scoured novels for good examples, and even browsed a selection of famous love letters on the Internet. I wanted it to be an amazing love letter.

I then resolved to write him a letter every day, and I did so for two weeks, each carefully crafted. I waxed on for pages about his goodness of heart, his strength, his eyes, his bottom—he had an exceptional bottom—his hands, his smile, how smart he was, his voice, his poet-prowess.

During this time, I avoided my friends’ phone calls and made excuses to skip knit night. I didn’t want to talk about the journal, not yet—not until I could report on my happily ever after.

At the end of those two weeks, receiving nothing in return, I called him.

His phone went to voicemail.

I decided I would wait and call him twelve hours later so I didn’t seem like a desperate stalker. His phone went to voicemail again.

It was at this point that I panicked. The panic didn’t last long, however. It quickly gave way to intense, angst-filled depression. I couldn’t find anger because I was buried under wallowing and self-pity; that’s just south of ridiculous and a little west of pull-yourself-together.

I was a pathetic, heartbroken train-hopping hobo.

In the past, I would call Momma during these times. I would call her up and she would give me advice; she was my soft place to land. But she was gone. I missed her terribly, and not just because my soft place was gone, but because I missed her.

I thought about talking to Sandra about it, but chances were she’d turn into a psychotherapist.

I thought about talking to Kat about it, but she seemed to be going through some kind of family drama and was away in Boston.

Everyone else was busy with the holidays, I reasoned. Really, it was just an excuse. If I’d called, they would have answered, they would have listened, they would have helped. I didn’t call because I didn’t want to. I wanted to hurt, as crazy as that sounds. I wanted to mourn privately—for Momma, for Drew, for myself—before I had to talk about my stupidity with someone else.

Christmas now loomed as an inescapable doom. Since air travel was so spotty around the holidays, I planned to drive from Chicago to Tennessee over two days. Jethro didn’t want me to go by myself—even though I’d explained that I was perfectly capable—so he and Beau decided to take a road trip up to fetch me. They’d rented a car for the way up. We were going to take my truck for the trip back to Tennessee.

I think Jethro suspected I might back out of a Tennessee Christmas if I was left to my own devices. I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if left to my own devices. Probably curl up in a ball with cookie dough, fruitcake, and wine.

As it was, I had little choice but to spend two weeks in Tennessee with my adorable, loveable, tremendously fantastic hillbilly brothers. Thoughts of drowning myself in a punch bowl full of moonshine eggnog got me through the requisite motions of packing.

They were due to arrive at 4:00 p.m. We would spend one night in the city to give them a chance to rest, then start on the journey to Tennessee the next day.

Presently, I was sitting on the couch watching Dr. Phil, drinking wine and eating fruitcake and cookie dough when my phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID, prepared to let it go to voicemail. I’d been avoiding Sandra and Fiona’s calls for the last week in particular. They were worried about me, I could tell. I just wasn’t ready to face them and their sympathy.

To my surprise, it was a Tennessee number that I didn’t recognize. My heart skipped a beat and I stiffened, gripping the phone tighter. I cleared my throat, swallowed, and brought the cell to my ear.

“Hello?”

“You have been avoiding my calls.” Sandra’s stern voice cut through the line.

I sighed. “I haven’t…I’ve just been…busy.”

“That’s a lie. I can tell when you’re lying.”

“What number are you calling from? It’s a Tennessee number.”

“Alex hacked the line and got me a Tennessee number. I suspected you wouldn’t pick up if you thought it was me.”

I sighed again, rolling my eyes. “Can’t you just let me wallow?”

“No, hon.” This was Fiona, apparently also on the line. “We can’t let you wallow. That’s not how we roll. You know better than that.”

“Plus,” I heard Janie’s voice, “we don’t know what you’re wallowing about.”

“Last time we saw you was three weeks ago. You’d just received that burned journal.” Elizabeth, it seemed, was also on the call. “You never told us whether you read it, and we have no idea what’s in it. Feel free to keep the details to yourself, but something happened; don’t try to deny it.”

Marie was the last to speak. “Now let us in. We’re downstairs and we have wine.”

I glanced at the bottle on my coffee table and the half-empty glass next to it.

“Isn’t it a little early to drink wine?” I asked.

“Don’t give me a line about wine,” Sandra’s voice was still stern. “I know you’re up there right now and feeling just fine. As you can see, I’m so upset I made up a rhyme.”

“She’s really upset,” Marie chimed in. “Best to let us in before things get ugly.”

I groaned, closing my eyes, and rubbing my forehead. “Fine. Fine—bring up your wine.”

I hung up the phone and crossed to the door, opening it and waiting for them to arrive. They made a big commotion climbing up the stairs, and I heard the tail end of their plans right before they reached my landing.

“…Let her do the talking. She looks trustworthy.” Marie said this, but to whom, I do not know.

Then Fiona said, “Thanks. Always nice to know I look trustworthy.”

Sandra snorted and said, “Little do they know….”

Then they were at my door.

I stood there and regarded them. They all gazed back at me with sympathy—wretched, wretched sympathy. Sighing for a third time, I turned from the door and called over my shoulder, “Come in, and bring your wine.”

Disrobing commenced—winter attire—and then I was assaulted from behind by a group hug.

Fiona, the trustworthy-looking one, spoke first. “Ashley, darling, we’re not leaving until you tell us what happened and why you’ve been avoiding us for nearly a month.”

“It’s only been three weeks,” I said in lame protest.

Just then, the buzzer to my building’s outer door went off. I glanced at the wall clock. It was only 10:20 a.m. I had another six hours of wallowing planned before my brothers were set to arrive.

“Who is that?” Janie asked as the group hug dissolved. “Are you expecting anyone?”

I shrugged. “My brothers aren’t supposed to be here until four,” I said, and I shuffled to the door and pressed the button.

“Who is it?” I said into the intercom, and in the background, I heard Sandra say, “Her brothers are coming? Did anyone know about this?”

“It’s Jethro and Beau. We’re outside.”

I stared at the speaker for a long second then buzzed them in. I’d been saved by the buzzer and my brothers’ randomly excellent timing. I unlocked and opened the door a crack so they could walk right in.

“Sorry to cut this short, but—as you heard—Jethro and Beau are here to take me to Tennessee.”

Fiona put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Nope. As soon as they see you they’ll want to join the intervention.”

I glanced at myself, noticed I had fruitcake crumbs on my sweatpants. Absentmindedly, I brushed my hand up and down to dust myself off. “What are you talking about?”

“Ashley, you look like you haven’t brushed your hair in days.” Elizabeth said this as a concerned friend, with no condemnation in her tone.

“And you have dark smudges on your cheeks.” Marie pointed to her own cheeks and jaw to show me where.

I touched my face and my fingers came away with soot stains. It was from Drew’s book. I’d been reading it off and on.

Jethro and Beau walked in and filled the arched entry to the living room. They were glancing around my apartment, obviously absorbing the lack of décor and lack of general splendor.

“Hey, ladies.” Beau waved to my friends.

They all exchanged greetings for a minute or two. I felt like I was watching the beginnings of a very bizarre nature program on PBS.

“Nice place.” Beau said this like he meant it.

I gave him a flat smile and shrugged. “Thanks.”

Jethro turned his gaze to me, and I watched as his eyes swept up and down, narrowing on the return pass.

“Ashley Austen Winston, you look like a lard bucket full of armpits.”

“Right?” Sandra said, her hand coming up in a swooping motion then falling flat against her thigh with a smack.

I gave him a flat smile and shrugged. “Thanks.”

My oldest brother put his hands on his hips, his gaze piercing and irritated. “Care to tell me what the hell is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

His eyes darted between my friends, who surprisingly remained silent.

At length, apparently making up his mind that he could speak freely, he asked, “Is it Momma? Are you having a hard time with…with everything?”

I nodded. “Yeah. That’s a big part of it.”

He watched me for a long minute, his expression softening, then he shocked the bejeebus out of me by asking, “Did you get my package?”

All of the ladies in the room gasped, and I felt their eyes shift to me. I stared at Jethro, I stared at the words he’d just said, my mind going quiet then loud then quiet again.

When I spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “What did you say?”

He shifted on his feet, his eyes darting to Beau, the ladies, then back to me. “The journal. Did you get it? Did you read it?”

“Did you…” I blinked like a hummingbird flaps its wings, falling off the non-blinking wagon spectacularly and with style. “Jethro Whitman Winston, did you send that journal to me?”

Jethro frowned at me. “Of course I did. Didn’t you get my note?”

“Note? Note?” Still blinking in rhythm to my confusion, I shook my head, glancing at Sandra, “No! What note?”

She held her hands up. “I didn’t see a note either.”

“Go get the journal. I’ll show you.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I jogged into my room, grabbed the journal from my desk, and sprinted back to the living room.

Beau had crossed the room and picked up my fruitcake. He took a bite, leaned close to Janie, and confessed, “I’m starving.”

She gave him a pleasant smile. “I’m not surprised. Based on your height and weight, you likely consume over three thousand calories a day, assuming you engage in moderate exercise.”

I ignored them and handed the book to Jethro.

Jethro fanned open the book and a slip of paper fell out. It had been tucked in the very back where the pages were blank. He retrieved it from the floor and handed it to me. “There’s my note.”

I opened it up, gave him one last look, then read the words on the paper.

Dear Ash,

I saved this from a campfire for you. Drew tossed it in when he thought I was asleep, then he walked away. I pulled it out because I suspected I knew what it was. Sorry the edges are burnt. I fished it out as soon as I could.

When you were here, while Momma was dying, he wrote in it every day. I saw him at work. When you left, he carried it everywhere he went.

I read the first two pages, and I knew you needed to see this because Drew is a good man and you’re a good woman. You both deserve to be happy.

I know you got a life in Chicago and it’s a good one. I like your friends and I think you should keep them. But I also saw how sad you were when you left, and I think only half of that was because of Momma.

Also, not that we get a say in things, but I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say it sure would be nice having you closer by.

Love, your brother,

Jethro

I placed my fingertips to my lips when I got to the part he carried it everywhere he went.

My chin began to wobble when I read I like your friends and I think you should keep them.

The first tear fell at I think only half of that was because of Momma.

And I was a blubbery mess when Jethro confessed it sure would be nice having you closer by.

Jethro walked to me and gave me a hug. It occurred to me that I’d cried more since August than I had in my entire life. I’d also received more hugs from my brothers than I had in my entire life.

“I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t know.” I cried into his sweater, gripping the front of his jacket.

“Well, who else could it have been?”

“I thought it was Drew.” I confessed on an epically big, ridiculous, movie-worthy, embarrassing sob. Jethro’s revelation changed everything. I was never meant to see the notebook. He never wanted to share those feelings with me. He wanted to burn it. He’d walked away—from me, from the possibility of us—and I’d stupidly sent him my heart in the mail.

“So it was you?” Fiona asked, seeking to clarify for the group. “You sent her the journal?”

Jethro nodded. “Yep. I thought I was helping.”

“What’s in it?” Elizabeth asked. “What is so terrible that it’s thrown you into this kind of depression?”

I hiccupped, sniffled, and tried to explain through my tears that it wasn’t terrible. I tried to explain that the book meant the world to me. Then I tried to explain why I was in my deep, deep funk.

“I stayed up all night reading it. It was…it was just…it moved my soul. So I wrote him a letter and I mailed it. And then I mailed him a letter every day for the last two weeks, and he never responded. He never responded!”

Jethro opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted him, my voice oscillating between rough and high-pitched hysteria. “So I called him and he didn’t answer. I wrote him fifteen love letters and he ignored them all and he won’t even answer the phone when I call!”

Several of my friends tsked, throwing me compassionate and sympathetic gazes. Janie wrapped her arms around me from behind.

“What a bastard,” Sandra breathed. “He really is Dr. Ruinous. We hates him.”

Jethro held up his hands as though trying to calm a riot before it became violent. “Now, wait. You don’t know the whole story. Stop jumping to conclusions.”

“What excuse could he possibly have?” Marie asked. “Is he injured? Is he trapped under a heavy object? Has he fallen without the ability to get up?”

Then Beau shocked the bejeebus out of me by saying, “No. He’s on the Appalachian Trail and doesn’t have cell reception.”

I stared at Beau, I stared at the words he’d just said, my mind going quiet then loud then quiet again.

When I spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “What did you say?”

“I said he’s been on the Appalachian Trail for the last six weeks. Jethro came back weeks ago, but Drew hasn’t been home in six weeks. I imagine his mail is collecting in a pile just inside his door. That’s where your letters are. Also, he’s got no cell reception.” Beau announced this casually while scooping his finger into the cookie dough, digging out a large chunk, and eating it.

Then, glancing at me and my friends’ stunned faces like we were aliens, he reached forward and picked up my wine. “And he gets back tomorrow. So, don’t worry. He’ll get your letters then. Mind if I drink this?”