I don’t have any interesting updates to share. I had a midyear review with my boss that didn’t go so well. A couple weeks ago I forgot to add a dentist appointment to her calendar （a task that’s not in my job description） and now she’s written me off as useless. Would you be surprised to learn that I’m her third assistant in four years?
Tomcat is doing well! He’s chunky and healthy and continues to be the best cuddler. One of my roommate’s dogs ate an entire bag of Tomcat’s dry food while I was at work last week, and my roommate refused to reimburse me, so that was fun. I had another bad date, this time with one of Iris’s business school friends that ended with him pitching to be my life coach. I went to the beach with Iris and my niece. That was probably the highlight of August. Summer went by in the blink of an eye.
And wait. You tried to write fiction? Was it a short story? The beginning of an Elves sequel??? I’m sure it wasn’t terrible. You can always share your writing with me if you want an opinion!
XO,
Lily
FROM: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]> TO: Lily G. <[email protected]>
DATE: September 14, 9:42pm
SUBJECT: Re: I’m alive
Lily—
I haven’t forgotten that you are a publishing professional. There is absolutely no chance I am sharing any of my subpar writing with you. I won’t even share it with my agent.
I’m sorry to hear about your boss and the flatmate. But glad to hear Tomcat is faring well （even if I’m still skeptical about his supposed sweet nature）。
I’ve missed reading your emails. I promise not to drop my laptop in a river and go another two months without speaking.
——Strick
FROM: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
TO: Lily G. <[email protected]>
DATE: September 29, 6:13pm
SUBJECT: Re: I’m alive
Lily—
Maybe I jinxed myself with that last email. Two weeks is nowhere near as long as two months, but I’m checking in to make sure all is well?
——Strick
FROM: Lily G. <[email protected]> TO: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
DATE: October 1, 11:02am
SUBJECT: Re: I’m alive
Hi Strick,
I’m sorry about the radio silence. There’s been so much going on. My boss decided to move one of her books up a season, which means I’ve spent every evening and some weekends for the past month fast-editing a book about the Manson Family. Then just when Iris got promoted at work （meaning she’d work even longer hours than before, including some weekends） her babysitter quit, which was bad because my two-year-old niece freaks out whenever she’s around someone who isn’t family. It took her months to get used to her old babysitter. Of course my parents happened to be spending the whole month in Georgia with my aunt and uncle, and Violet is always on the go, so I’ve been watching my niece whenever I can. Oh, and I was preparing for a job interview at another children’s publisher, which I didn’t get, unfortunately. Overall, though, I’m okay. Busy. But okay.
How are you? Where are you?
XO,
Lily
FROM: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
TO: Lily G. <[email protected]>
DATE: October 1, 6:13pm
SUBJECT: Re: I’m alive
So you’ve been spending the month with your toddler niece and the Manson Family. Nice. Joking. I’m sorry things have been hectic for you. I think it’s admirable that you sacrifice your own time to be with your niece and that your sister is adamant on having someone babysit her. My parents would have just left me alone and not thought twice about it.
I’m in Coimbra, Portugal, on a new assignment. I’ve been shadowing an engineering professor at the University of Coimbra who moonlights as a baker. He brings in desserts for his students every class, so they love him, of course.
I’m attaching a picture of a p?o de ló cake he made last week. It’s light, like an angel cake. It was one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. If you were here, I would have saved you a piece.
——Strick
FROM: Lily G. <[email protected]>
TO: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
DATE: October 13, 2:54am
SUBJECT: Re: I’m alive
Hi Strick,
Since I last wrote, things have gotten a bit worse. I think Iris’s job is really stressing her out. She’s starting to crack a little. The other day, she locked herself in the bathroom and I could hear her crying, but when she opened the door, she was fresh faced and smiling as if nothing had happened and she didn’t want to talk about it. She’s always been like that in a way. After my brother-in-law passed away, she became obsessed with finding the right flowers to put on every table at the repast. It was all she talked about for days.