A Letter from Alpha After Ten Years Chapter 09

A Letter from Alpha After Ten Years Chapter 09

One month later, I leased that empty building by the dock.

The landlord was a tanned old man. He kept sizing me up during the walk-through.

“Place has been empty eight years. You’re the first one who’s ever wanted to set up shop”

Renovations took a month. I made the sign myself-found a scrap of wood, drew a fish and

coffee cup with a marker.

Opening day, three people showed up. All regulars from the island.

The first time Liam came into my shop, I was wiping glasses.

The wind chime above the door jingled. I looked up. He gave me a small smile.

I found out later he planned to settle here long term.

He liked the island.

There was a crooked tree outside his place with a wooden sign: Motor repair. Radios. Windows

and doors.

Funny. A high-ranking Alpha turned handyman?

He walked in and sat by the window.

“Coffee.”

I brought it over.

He took a sip, didn’t say anything extra.

He came every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

Order a coffee. Drink it. Pay. Leave.

A pot of pothos always sat between us.

One day he showed up carrying a clay pot.

“The pothos needs repotting.”

I didn’t respond, but he went ahead and did it anyway.

That night in bed, I suddenly remembered I’d forgotten to water the pothos.

I threw on a jacket and went back to the shop.

Moonlight spilled across the windowsill. The pothos leaves were still wet.

Someone had already been here.

A note under the pot: [Passing by. Figured why not.]

I bit my lip and tucked the note in my drawer.

He knew I wouldn’t talk to him, so he’d switched to writing.

Over time, those notes had nearly filled a whole drawer.

Then one day, a tourist couple came into my shop.

“This island has great scenery. Too bad there’s no tourism industry.”

“If they developed it-built a resort or something-it’d be great. But it’s too remote. Not even a

decent flight route.”

Those words from the notes flashed back.

[The island developed well later. You’ll get there ahead of everyone-you can get in on the

ground floor.]

Future Liam had told me the island had good economic prospects. He’d said to think about what

I wanted to do.

So I signed another lease.

A two-story empty house by the dock with a yard.

The landlord asked, “You gonna dry fish here?”

I shook my head. “A B&B.”

Second week of renovations, a few people showed up on the island.

The leader was a middle-aged man with glasses, followed by two younger people carrying

folders and cameras. They stood at the dock taking photos of the coastline.

The islanders said they were here to assess tourism potential.

Second month after the flight route opened, my guesthouse went viral online.

It started with a travel blog.

One of the first tourists wrote a long post that spread like wildfire.

A few travel influencers shared it.

Then more bloggers. More travelogues.

People started taking the new flight just to try my signature drink.

Others came to see the “handsome handyman” everyone was talking about, staking out the

shop on Wednesdays.

A few photos of Liam ended up online. Comments flooded in asking if he was single.

He replied himself, [Single. Pursuing someone.]

I replied to him, [What if you never catch her?]

He replied, [Then I’ll wait my whole life-even if she never looks back.]