I Opened It

You are not supposed to open other people's mail. There is a law about it. I told myself that for two days and on the third day I steamed the envelope open over the kettle like a coward. The letter was from a woman. She did not sign a full name, just an initial, R. She wrote like someone continuing a conversation, referencing things I had no context for, a plan, a date, a place called the boathouse. And near the end she wrote a line that made me put the letter down on the counter and step away from it. She wrote: I know you can't write back, and I know why, but please, if you are reading this, leave the light on in the front window so I know you are still there. I had been leaving that light on for three weeks. I always left it on.