A Letter from a 'Friend'

I walked in and Ruby handed me an envelope with 'Sheriff' scrawled across the front, in an unfamiliar hand. "Good morning, Walt."

"Mornin' Ruby. What's this?"

"I don't know. It was on the floor when I opened up this morning."

"Okay. Anything else for me today?"

"No, not yet." She smiled warmly and then a hint a mischief crossed her features, "But you'll be the first I tell when there is."

I blinked as much at the mildly sarcastic tone as I did at her words, "You've been spending too much time around Vic."

She laughed at me. Ruby, she genuinely laughed and I started to think something more was going on; she was in cahoots with someone I could feel it. I angled my head to give her my best cautionary stare but she just smiled sweetly, reading my thoughts perfectly, and said, "Walter, there is nothing else. Nothing at all. You're just so serious all the time lately; I thought I would try to get you to lighten up some."

It's wasn't a condemnation or chastisement; just an honest statement. So, I gave her an honest reply, "I'll try to work on that."

Her smile deepened, "Good, because I miss you." Her words were simple but her meaning clear and profound.

I swallowed the unexpected lump in my throat and managed a small smile in return. "Thank you Ruby."

She held my eyes for a moment and I let her, I could tell she saw I understood her completely.
I turned for my office and then remembered to ask, "No troops?"

I glanced back over my shoulder and her overly patient expression said she was about to indulge my forgetfulness. "Ferg's annual physical is this morning. Branch is at the Dentist. And Vic is..." The deputy in question walked in and set a box on the dispatcher's desk. Ruby amended the statement, "was getting the office letter head order for me." Looking at Vic she added, "Thank you."

"Anytime Ruby." Vic waggled her eyebrows at Ruby and gave her a slightly wicked smile, "They've got some delicious new eye candy working for them."

Ruby laughed at Vic and I told myself to smile but I know it didn't happen. I settled for shaking my head at them and started for my office, as an afterthought, I decided to remind Vic of my presence, "Mornin' Vic."

She turned and was almost directly in front of me, her smile was utterly captivating, she must have still been thinking about the 'eye candy'. The smile had fully reached her eyes; lucky guy.

"Good morning, Walt." Her voice held an almost sing song quality.

Vic and sing song; not two things I would ordinarily think of going together. I nodded and stepped past her, once again, headed for coffee and my office. I sat the envelope face down next to the coffee pot as I picked up a mug and the carafe. Vic stepped up behind me; so close I could feel her body heat against my pant leg. Her hand gently brushed my back as she reached around my arm to pick up her Philly Flyers mug. I turned slightly and brought the carafe up to fill her cup too.

"Thanks."

"Yep." I slipped the carafe back onto the heat plate and stepped away.

"You forgot this."

I looked over my shoulder and saw the envelope in her hand. I did forget it, completely. The moment her hand touched my back, in that familiar way, all I could think about was her touch. My hand reached out automatically and grasped the paper. "I did thanks."

I opened the door and walked to my desk, set my coffee down, and then slit the envelope open, and pulled the single sheet out. When I dropped the envelope on the desk it landed face up. As I turned the page upright I rounded the back of my desk. My eyes landed on the signature at the same time my butt landed in my chair. Sean. Sean? Why would Sean write to me? I sighed because there was only one way to find out. I glanced at my open door and saw Vic's head bent over some files. For a brief moment I considered getting up and closing the door, but I began to read instead.

Sheriff,

I suppose after all that's gone on I should probably just call you Walt. I know that when you said I had nothing to worry about from you, you meant that. You are a man of honor so I have no doubt that you never kissed or slept with Vic while she was my wife.
There are a few things I thought you should know though. The first of which is that if you two have not gotten together yet I'm afraid you, Walt, are not as smart as I thought you were.
Vic and I both knew we were drifting apart before we ever got to Wyoming. We tried to keep our marriage together but in reality we just weren't right for each other. I get that and I don't fault either of us anymore.
The primary reason I'm writing is to let you know about something that happened while we were being held by those survival extremists. Something I doubt Vic's told you, especially if the two of you have not gotten together. And if you haven't gotten together, that's all the more reason why I should tell you.
We were in the basement when they threw a body bag down. Vic was so scared that it might be you. She scrambled across the floor and clawed at the bag. Vic let out this deep frantic scream while she struggled to get the bag open. That scream was like an exclamation point to her emotions in that moment. That's when I saw for the first time, that while there was nothing physically going on between the two of you, Vic was already in love with you.Like I said we'd been drifting apart long before we got to Wyoming, but I think that was the moment that I knew for sure that I'd lost my wife.
Thanks to you neither of us lost our lives.

When Gorski left us, Vic made a choice. I could have chalked up the reaction to the body bag as just being scared and thinking our last hope of getting out alive was dead in that bag. However, her choice to leave me in the backseat of that nutjob's car, without a word about my condition or safety, to run back to you; told me I was not mistaken in that cellar. Vic cared more for you than she did for me. This is not bitterness talking, just stating the facts of what I saw.

The fact that Vic stayed at the hospital to make sure you were alright, even after I'd been released, was merely another point of proof that Vic had to be sure you were alright before anything else. I knew my wellbeing came in a distant second to you and always would; I just had to accept it.
The last thing I wanted to tell you is I was pretty sure when I told Vic she had to quit her job that she wouldn't. I know as much as we fought to keep our marriage together she would never turn her back on you; she could never leave you. So at the end of the two weeks I filed for divorce because I knew part of Vic still had some feelings for me. She would never leave our marriage but we had to let it go.I don't fault any of us and I hope that neither of you do either.
I know Vic is in love with you and if you feel for her the way I think you do, I hope you've already done some about it but if you haven't, you need to talk to her today.
Good luck to you both from Down Under, Sean

p.s. this will have been sent to a friend of mine who dropped it by your office for me. I didn't want Vic to throw it out when she saw the return address.

When I finished the letter I looked out to Vic's desk again but found her standing in my doorway; she had been watching me read. How long? I had no idea. How was I going to deal with the letter and the information it contained? I didn't know that either. But I did know it wouldn't be for other's to hear. "Come in Vic, close the door."

She did as I asked and stepped up to the guest chair on the other side of my desk. As she started to sit in the chair her eyes crossed my desk and landed on the envelope. She halted her actions, hovered for a moment and then sprang forward and snatched the envelope off my desk.

She stood bolt upright, her eyes locked on mine, her voice low; controlled with obvious effort, "What the hell is Sean doing writing to you?!"

I couldn't tell who she was angry with: Sean, me, or both of us. All I knew was she was angry, very angry.

The time had been far too short for me to formulate a plan for dealing with the letter and information it held. I got up, walked around my desk, holding Vic's glare the whole way. When I rounded the front corner, I stopped and hitched my right hip on the front of my desk, and handed her the letter. My thinking of the moment was she couldn't get much angrier and maybe she could solve my problem of trying to figure out how to handle the information. Her glare tightened sharply on my eyes before she looked at the page.

Vic ripped the page from my hand and stalked away from me as she started to read. She paced as she read, expletives sparking from her lips as her eyes tracked through the words. Her pace slowed and the expletives faded as she turned from me once again. When Vic reached the table near the private entrance she failed to turn back around in her pacing. She stalled out at the table; dropping the page and both hands on the tabletop and hanging her head over all three.

I watched her upper back raise and lower as she took one deep breath after another, over and over. I waited and gave her the time she needed to regain control of her temper. When her breathing had returned to normal and I thought she was making significant progress in calming down; I risked speaking, "Vic…"

BAM!