Hate Notes

by Vi Keeland

“She said, ‘Forgive me for being a dreamer,’ and he took her by the hand and replied, ‘Forgive me for not being here sooner to dream with you.’”—J. Iron Word Thank you for making all of my dreams come true. Your love, Reed

“When God was making the mold for good-looking men, he asked one of his angels what else he should add to make a man more attractive in her eyes. The angel didn’t want to be disrespectful by using foul language, so she simply said, ‘Give him a big stick.’ Unfortunately, the added piece was put on backward, and now all good-looking men are born with a large stick up their tuchus.”

But you need to figure out how to love the life that you have, while you work on the life that you want.

You can only find true happiness within yourself, not inside of other people, no matter how much you care about them. Make yourself happy, and the rest will come. I promise.”

“Telling you what I was thinking would have been unprofessional. I don’t want to risk losing my job on the very first day.” “I see you learned a lot about professionalism during your time at Deez Nuts.”

“I’m sorry, Charlotte. Apparently I hadn’t put two and two together.” Despite her words, my grandmother didn’t seem very surprised at all. “I would have never imagined that the condescending prick you described was Reed.”

“Maybe Stan can work on getting a sensitivity chip installed into your grandson. He seems to be missing one.” I snapped my fingers. “They must have forgotten to put it back in when they installed my bullshit detector.”

“My grandmother always said a lady gave an angel’s smile and kept her devilish thoughts to herself.”

Charlotte, If you have any further questions about Bridgehampton, feel free to air-type them up for me. Reed

I cocked a brow. “Why are you so curious about me?” Her eyes seared through mine. “Because from the moment I met you, I knew you weren’t the person you were portraying.”

Well, Charlotte, I stopped translating because the idea of you going out with some random man makes me feel violent.

take some advice from an old man who has learned from more mistakes than you even realize you’re capable of making yet. One man’s overlooked blessing is soon another man’s gain.”

The two of you fight like an old married couple, flirt like you’re in high school, and confide in each other like you’re lifelong best friends.

“I think it’s better to spend years treasuring a memory that might hurt sometimes than to never make one at all.”

Love wasn’t about a beautiful dress, a note, or even poignant words. It was about being with someone through thick and thin, about seeing them through not only the best moments of life but also the worst. It was about being there for someone like I would have been there for Reed if he’d let me. I thought of my birth mother. True love was also about forgiveness.

Note to self, never trust Max to take me seriously when I ask him to translate something into Italian for me. Instead of finding myself at the nearest train station, I ended up at the nearest whorehouse.

To my one true love and soulmate, Charlotte, I don’t need the help of a poet to articulate my love for you. But to try to reduce it to a couple of sentences could never do my feelings justice. Even my wildest dreams could never have conjured up the level of love in my heart today. You’re beyond my wildest dreams. My love for you is infinite. You. Are. Everything. Your love, Reed