As for me, when I'm not working – which isn't very often – I've been dating a lovely girl, a member of the staff and we've shared moments together that reminded me of you.
I hope we meet again in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, please write and tell me what you've been up to at the ranch.
Love,
Ken
Laurie sat quietly for a moment, allowing the impersonal words to sink in, and then bent over to place her face in her hands as the flood of tears rose to her eyes. He had no right, she thought, no right at all to write her such a cold, offhand letter, one in which he had the unmitigated audacity to mention that his latest bed-partner reminded him of her… as though their bodies and minds were replicas of one another. Well, damnit, she would sit down and let him know just how different she was!
Less than an hour later she finished and leaned back in her chair, stretching. She began rereading the letter before sealing it up in an envelope:
Dear Ken,
I've just read your letter and am replying right away… while I have time. I'm having seven or eight friends in for a little party tomorrow afternoon and must get ready.
I appreciate your concern for me, but I really insist that you needn't worry yourself. You see, I'm truly grateful for the time we spent together this summer, and, while it's true that you relieved me of my virginity, I'm finding out now that it was a greater burden than I ever realized. I may not be the "real woman" you said that a few "fucks" would make me, but I'm trying my level best with the resources at hand to rise to everyone's expectations of me. So far. I'm more pleased with my popularity than with whatever progress I'm making toward genuine womanhood.
I'm happy that you've found a satisfactory playmate who reminds you of me, and I hope you're lucky enough to remember her right name. I can imagine the distress she would feel if, in the midst of passion, you blurted out "Laurie" instead of her name.
Uncle Ned has been working with the stallion, trying to make him behave. It seems dubious, though, that he will ever do anything but climb mares and yearn to be free again.
I won't be returning to private school this fall as I've convinced Uncle Ned that I will be of more value here on the ranch, and he has graciously consented to let me finish high school in Sugar Pine.
Until we meet, keep thinking of me as you have been, for I'll be doing exactly what you'll be doing when your lady co-worker helps you relax.
Cheers,
Laurie
After addressing and sealing the envelope, Laurie stood up, running her hands down over her firm young thighs. Humming to herself, she crossed the room and stood gazing out the window toward the Chiquita Range. In the twilight the mountains were a bluish-purple color, and there were enormous tumbling gray clouds drifting south over the peaks. She felt as free and high as they we…
Behind her, the bedroom door opened softly. Laurie turned, her hands at once reaching toward her slender, young neck and the drawstring of the gauzy shift she was wearing. She smiled as Uncle Ned proudly strode toward her…