Another week of school flew by and Adeline and Mackenzie had become the best of friends, despite their differences. Mackenzie played in the band and Adeline played piano. Mackenzie played soccer and tennis and Adeline took gymnastics and dance. Mackenzie liked STEM, but Adeline enjoyed English and history. However, they both enjoyed baking, shopping, running, romantic comedies and Taylor Swift. And unknowingly, they both had a growing curiosity about the truth about their departed parent. And speaking of parents, neither Adeline's father nor Mackenzie's mother had run into each other as both had suddenly become busy at work.

"Adeline? I have a few errands to run this morning. I will return at noon." Oliver poked his head in the living room one Saturday morning. Adeline popped up from behind the stack of boxes.

"Sounds good. I'm just organizing our things. Is it okay if Mackenzie comes over and helps me with this stuff?"

"I suppose." Oliver said. "If her parents say it's all right."

Adeline sent a text to Mackenzie and a moment later, Mackenzie texted her back. "Her Mom says it's fine. She said that she'll be home catching up on chores so if an emergency happens she's around the corner."

Oliver looked bewildered. "You received all of that? At a moment's notice?" He shook his head as Adeline showed him the text. "I'll never understand these things." He waved before heading out the door. As he walked outside, a petite blonde girl rode her bike up to the house. She leaned her bike against the fence.

"Oh, hello, Mr. O'Toole." MacKenzie said with a wave. "I'm Mackenzie. Addie's friend."

"Oh!" Oliver said. He was surprised by Mackenzie's presence. "Yes, yes. Hello. Thank you for keeping Adeline company." He nodded.

"No prob!"

Oliver watched the young girl bounce up the steps. She turned. "I like your porch swing. My mom has one just like it." And with that she spun around again and walked into the house.

Oliver stood there for a moment stunned. He could have sworn he saw a mini...dare he say her name aloud... run past him. He sat in his SUV.

Why was he thinking about her? Just because he saw a young blonde version of...her...walk by? It had to be a pure coincidence. Maybe a distant cousin. A verrrrrry distant cousin. "It was a pure coincidence." Oliver thought again. 'Luck' was the religion of the lazy, sure. But coincidences are different, right?

Regardless, she was probably happy living her life somewhere. Somewhere that wasn't Denver and somewhere that was more than likely not Washington DC. Oliver would be lying if he said that he never thought of her. He did. More often than he'd like to admit.

Adeline and Mackenzie sorted through all of the boxes. It gave Adeline a thrill to organize everything a put them in their proper places. Mackenzie, not so much, but it beat helping her mom with chores at home. When they finished the kitchen, which only took them half an hour or so, they headed to their library. This was Adeline's favorite part of the house. The original owners had installed buit-in-bookcases and Oliver and Adeline had argued on how to arrange this library. Adeline insisted on organizing the books stylistically, while Oliver insisted on the Dewey Decimal system for ease of finding books. Adeline won. As she put the books on the shelves, an envelope fell out of one of the books she was holding.

"What is this?" Adeline knelt down and picked it up. The name was illegible on the envelope and Adeline could barely make it out. Mackenzie peered over her shoulder.

"Open it!" Mackenzie said eagerly.

"It's a federal offense to open someone else's mail." Adeline started to put the letter back in the book.

"Aw come on! Aren't you curious? It looks old. It doesn't matter." MacKenzie grabbed it from Adeline's hand. "Hm... it looks like it's gotten water on it. I can't read the name of who it's supposed to go to. And there's no mailing address."

"My dad works for the Post Office. He'd kill me if I broke a federal law. Come on! It's probably not important." Adeline started to grab it back. But MacKenzie quickly held it back.

"Nah uh. Aren't you curious?" Mackenzie asked.

"No." Adeline was adamant, her arms crossed.

"Well, I am. This letter looks like it had gotten wet. Maybe something spilled?" MacKenzie inspected the envelope.

Curiosity got the better of Adeline. "Fine." MacKenzie handed her the letter and Adeline pulled the letter out of the envelope and began to read. The date was hard to make out, but Adeline assumed the letter had to be maybe ten years old. Maybe older.

"Dear Ms." Adeline squinted. She couldn't make out the last name as the ink had smudged. "McIntyre?" Adeline started to read.

"I have tried to write this letter now for many days. I don't know where to begin. I suppose I should start the night you left. The truth is, Holly never gave me a straight answer that night. She wanted to give it another week. And as a gentleman and her husband, I wanted to respect her decision. I am expecting her to sign the divorce papers as she had been gone for two years. One does not just show up after two years of being in..." Adeline squinted again at the letter. "Absence and re..." MacKenzie peered over her shoulder.

"I think it says "absentia and resume a something'... marriage maybe? 'as...um...though nothing'..." MacKenzie scratched her head.

"Happened." Adeline finished. She continued.

"And I assume that I cannot compete with Paris. Holly and I were never meant to be married in the first place and I do believe we both know that. I just want Holly to be happy and I want her to feel free to be the best person she can be. Even if that means without me. After my evening with—" Adeline paused, trying to decipher the rest of the letter as most of it had smudged. She handed the letter to Mackenzie to continue.

"Holly, I stopped at the 'dlo'—" MacKenzie looked at Adeline. "What's a 'dlo'?"

Adeline looked at the letter. "Oh—D-L-O— that's the 'Dead Letter Office.'"

"Huh?" Mackenzie was confused.

"I'll explain later. Keep going."

Mackenzie lifted the letter back up to read it. "This is kind of hard to read."

"I can read my dad's handwriting." Adeline continued to read. "And found Rita and Norman terribly upset. They gave me your note. And I noticed that a very specific letter opener had disappeared... something..." Adeline said as she noted the illegible paragraph as it had been water logged. "I still don't understand— why did you leave, Sha—" Adeline looked at MacKenzie. "Does that say 'Shane'?"

"I think it says 'Shann'? The smudged cursive is hard to read.

"Who's Shann?" Adeline wondered out loud.

"Maybe Shannon?" Mackenzie suggested.

"Shannon... Aunt Rita never talked about a 'Shannon.'" Adeline mused before she kept reading. "I can't sleep at night. Rita and Norman are starting to worry as I've not been myself...or so they say. Truth be told, I can't eat. My head aches. My heart hurts. I wish you didn't leave the way you did."

Adeline and Mackenzie looked at each other. Adeline's hands were trembling. Mackenzie noticed that Adeline looked as if she were about to cry.

"We don't have to finish." Mackenzie said quickly. She looked down. "I'm sorry I made you open it."

"I just never knew this about my mom. Or my dad." Adeline sighed. "First my mom, then Shannon."

The girls were silent. Then, Adeline decided to keep reading.

"You have taught me much in the year I've known you. Despite how different we may be, despite the arguments that have ensued, despite your calling me a "human antique," despite it all, I feel lost. Lost without you." Adeline's voice dropped to a whisper. She handed the letter to Mackenzie.

"I've had very few friends in life and I'm realizing now that your friendship was one in a million. My biggest regret— I regret that I didn't show my appreciation to you sooner. I don't know what to do. I know you may read this and may think this is very unlike me. I would acknowledge that as my thoughts are all over the place and my words are lacking as of now. But please know. I care. I always have. And probably always will. Yours, Oliver O'Toole."