My Two Best Friends and I Promised to Reunite on Christmas After 30 Years – Instead of One of the Guys, a Woman Our Age Showed Up and Left Us Speechless

“Look, he knew you didn’t mean any harm. But he carried that silence for years. He once told me that being near the two of you felt like standing in a house where the door was open, but he was never sure if he was welcome inside.”

She told us about the high school dance Rick never attended, even though we were convinced that he had.

And about the Christmas party, where he sat outside until the music stopped.

And about the postcards we sent and the replies he wrote but never mailed.

“He kept every one of them,” she said. “He just didn’t know if they were meant for him.”

I rubbed my hands together, the way I do when I am trying to stay grounded.

“Why did he never say anything?” I asked.

“He was afraid, Raymond,” she said.

“He was afraid the silence would confirm what he already believed.”

“And what was that?” Ted asked, staring down at the table.

“That he mattered less.”

Jennifer eventually placed a folded letter in front of us. It was sealed, the edges soft from having been handled.

Continue reading…