“So how’s it going?” asked Mel’s mom. Her face blurred and flickered across Mel’s laptop screen, and her voice sounded far away. Which, of course, it was.
“Not bad,” said Mel. “The butler brings me breakfast every morning, which was weird at first, but now I kind of love it. And then Ro plans these outings for us during the day. We went to a museum on Thursday, and yesterday we drove out into the countryside and had a picnic. I mean, LaRue drove us out into the countryside. It’s weird that they have so many people working for them, but I guess that’s normal for rich people in any country, right? And we have lunch or tea at the same ridiculous restaurant every day, which I don’t get, but that might also be a rich people thing. And the food is good, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. How are you?”
“Fine,” said Mel’s mom. “Todd and I are going to a movie tonight. I was actually thinking that when you get back, maybe the three of us could go see that new superhero movie . . .”
This again. Mel decided to wrap things up. “Mom, can I call you back later? There’s this party tonight and I need to get ready for it.” The party started at 7:00 p.m. and it was currently 10:00 a.m., but her mom didn’t need to know that. Mel was actually planning to spend rest of the morning reading through Max and Beatrice’s letters with Ro, but she figured her mom didn’t need to know that either. She’d avoided telling her mom how much time she’d been spending with Ro. Especially because it probably added up to more time than she’d spent with Jasper—who was the whole reason she’d come here in the first place.
“Oh, sure, honey,” said her mom. “We’ll talk more soon. Have a great time!”
Mel sighed as she ended the call. Her mom was trying really hard to be supportive. But it was so obvious that the kind of life Jasper and Ro had was completely unappealing to her mom. She clearly didn’t feel that Mel had been missing out on anything all these years. Mel couldn’t help disagreeing. Being here was strange, but she wouldn’t trade it for an outing to the movies with her mom and What’s His Name.
Ro was waiting for Mel in the study. They were almost done going through the letters—they only had a few left. Mel found herself wishing there were more. It had been strangely fun to spend the last few mornings hunched over almost-unreadable handwriting, reading the jokes and secrets and radical ideas of these two people she’d never meet.
The last few letters also turned out to be the saddest. Max was married and had two kids, and he was finally ending the correspondence since he knew it could hurt his family. He and Beatrice said some very touching things, and then some very matter-of-fact things, and then it was game over as they both decided to move on with separate lives.
“That’s so sad,” said Mel as they finished reading the last letter.
“In a way,” Ro agreed. “But it’s also rather lovely, don’t you think?”
Mel didn’t think so at all, but she didn’t want to burst Ro’s bubble, so she kept quiet.
“So,” sighed Ro, standing up and stretching. “What do you think you’d like to do with these letters now? You have every right to keep them to yourself, of course. But you could also donate them to the National Museum if you want. They definitely have historical significance.”
Mel looked up in surprise. “Lady Cecily would hate that.”
“Yes,” said Ro with a straight face. “She absolutely would.”
Mel grinned at her.