AT 19, MY BEST FRIEND AND I PROMISED THAT IF WE WERE BOTH SINGLE AT 60, WE’D FIND EACH OTHER. I TURNED 60 LAST TUESDAY, AND HE CALLED FROM A HOSPITAL BED.
ON THE CHAIR BESIDE HIM WERE 41 UNSENT LETTERS — AND THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY HE WALKED AWAY.
Chapter 1: The Landline That Rang
When we were 19, my best friend and I promised that if we were both single at 60, we’d find each other — I turned 60 last Tuesday, and my old landline rang.
My name is Ruth. Jeffrey and I were best friends from seventeen. At nineteen, under the football bleachers, he held out his pinky: “If we’re both single at sixty, we find each other.” Deal.
