Ch11 - Inundated

Hazel and I stood there looking at the boxes that contained the dead letters and I knew just looking at them that it would take a couple of trips back and forth to the DLO.

While I was standing there, my thoughts drifted to my sister; I know she's an addict and she can't help it, however she should have known better than to get our mom involved again.

The stress of having a gambling addict for a sister and seeing those boxes sitting there, I know it's what we do, and I know we get dead letters all the time, I'm just feeling slightly overwhelmed today and I'm afraid that it might cause problems.

I then shook my head and tried to get all thoughts of Alex and her predicament out of my head. I had to focus, I'm a post office employee; I have to be on the ball at all times.

I snapped back into the present when Hazel spoke, and the shock was evident in her voice.

"That's a lot of dead letters, do you think you and Oliver will get through them all?"

I looked at her and I smiled; I was taken aback by the amount of letters that we seemed to get today. Normally it's one box or two, however for some reason on this occasion we received four.

"It might take a couple of days, once we sort each of the boxes out; I just hope there's nothing of value in them"

She looked at me and she smiled reassuringly.

"I know that you two will get this done in no time"

I nodded, I really hope that she is right about us getting through all these boxes. I laughed softly and then I looked at her.

"Thanks Hazel"

She smiled and then she went on with her day, I looked at the boxes; I lifted the first one, and I made my way to the DLO.

I walked into the DLO and set the box of letters down, I smiled as I spotted Oliver sitting at his desk. I normally wouldn't ask him to help, because Rita and I are the ones that collect the letters from Hazel.

I walked over to his desk and I looked at him, I waited until he looked up. He smiled at me.

"Just the one box of letters today?"

I laughed nervously, and shook my head.

"Actually Oliver, there are three more boxes out there, do you mind helping me to bring them in?"

He stood up, he kissed my cheek; he then smiled at me.

"Of course I don't mind my love, lead the way"

We walked back out to the Terminal Annex, I made sure to thank him for helping me.

"Thank you, I'm sure you weren't expecting so many boxes today"

He smiled at me, as we lifted two more boxes, I smiled at him before going out to get the last box. I then made my way back into the DLO.

I noticed that Oliver looked slightly bewildered, I walked over to where he was standing and I placed my hand on his arm.

I spoke.

"It looks like we have been inundated with dead letters, I'm sorry for coming in and out like that; as you can see we have a lot of letters to sort through"

He smiled at me. He then looked at the boxes that contained the letters. He looked at me again and he spoke.

"I'm sure we can sort through each box today, and if we have to we can finish sorting through them tomorrow"

We decided to sort through the first box I brought in, I lifted it and carried it over to Rita's desk. I tipped it on its side, I noticed that Oliver was standing there watching the letters fall into a pile on the desk.

I looked at the letters again, I then stated the obvious.

"All these letters will take some time to get through"

Again not like my usual self at all, because I always have something to say. I noticed that Oliver didn't pick up on my statement, as he was too focused on the letters sitting on the desk.

I then suggested that we sort the letters into two different piles. Oliver agreed with my suggestion and so we created two piles, the first pile was for the envelopes with addresses and names that we couldn't read and the second pile was for envelopes that had stamps that had been torn.

Oliver reached for the pile of envelopes with the torn stamps.

"Let's work on the pile of torn stamps first"

I tried to stop him. The reason behind it was because I knew what was going to happen once he started going through the letters.

"Oliver are you sure? Do you not want to focus on the other pile this afternoon?"

The reason I was trying to get him to focus on the that particular pile was because, Oliver is really passionate about writing letters; and he loves placing them in envelopes and then sticking stamps on those letters, and he doesn't like it when they get damaged because someone didn't take the time to place it on an envelope properly.

An example of how much he loves stamps would be the time he made a handmade card for me for Valentine's Day a couple of years back, he went crazy on the postage.

I nodded, you see torn stamps are just one of the causes of letters being declared as dead. People can be a little bit overzealous when placing a stamp on an envelope, and in some cases it gets torn, and when that happens the letter can't be delivered to its proper destination.

He spoke again.

"Some of these stamps are really damaged; I just don't understand why a person who is mailing a letter, then when they go to stick a stamp on an envelope care isn't taken"

I looked at him, I should have remembered these types of letters always upset him; I placed my hand on his arm again. I rubbed his arm as he held one of the letters in his hands.

I guess I'm not in the right frame of mind right now, I must be more upset about my sister than I realised. You know on a regular day being inundated with dead letters would be exciting and I normally can't wait to see what we discover.

Although it seems like today is going to be an off day for both of us.

I shook my head again, bringing myself back to the present. I gently pried the letter out of Oliver's hand, he looked at me perplexed. I had to do something, I know how Oliver works; I also know that he gets upset when a letter or stamp are damaged due to negligence on behalf of the sender.

"Oliver, I know that you're upset; if we can sort through these letters together, then we can tidy up in here and once we've finished, why don't we pick up takeout and go my house tonight?"

He looked at me and he took me in his arms. He kissed me softly, he then pulled away. He looked at me warmly. I could feel my heart flutter in my chest.

"Alright, let's get to work, Ms McInerney and having dinner tonight with the most beautiful woman in the world will be the best way to end the day"

We got to work, we sorted through each envelope; however with each one Oliver became more and more upset. I looked at him and I smiled softly.

I decided to offer to finish up sorting the letters, I also wanted to distract him from the task because I knew what impact it was having on him.

"Oliver, if you want I can finish sorting through these letters, and maybe you could make a start on clearing up the boxes and anything else you come across"

He looked at me. I smiled at him, however when he didn't smile back I knew something bad was about to happen.

However I wasn't expecting him to raise his voice slightly, that was rare occurrence for Oliver; especially where I was concerned. I jumped slightly when his anger and frustration seeped through his words.

"Ms McInerney, I'm perfectly capable of sorting through these letters"

I should have known better, why did I even suggest that we separate the mail from the first box in the first place? It was a really stupid idea.

I stood there stunned into silence, he hardly ever used my surname in a tone like that. I decided to distract myself by sorting through the pile of damaged letters I had sitting beside me.

I knew that he got like this especially when it came to damaged stamps, it's all my fault; I'm not thinking straight, all because of that damned phone call this morning!

I stayed quiet and didn't make eye contact with Oliver, I then looked down at my engagement ring. I shouldn't be upset with him. I wonder if dinner is still on the table tonight?

I could feel a presence near me, I looked up; Oliver was standing beside me. I looked up and he smiled softly at me.

"My love I'm very sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper with you like that; please forgive me, I know that you were only trying to help. I hope that we can still have dinner tonight?"

I looked at him, my heart melted; I placed my hand on the back of his head and then we kissed. It was a soft gentle kiss, but full of forgiveness at the same time.

"I forgive you, and yes of course we are still having dinner together tonight; Oliver it was just a momentary blip in our actions, and we can both agree that we are just having an off day"

He nodded, agreeing with my statement; he smiled at me, then he did something he rarely does he hugged me tight to his chest.

I could feel my heart soar, everyone is allowed to have good days and bad days.

We kissed again, then we tidied up the office; headed to my place, ordered our dinner from our favourite takeout place and we made light conversation while we waited for it to arrive.

TBC