Chapter 2: Hello — A Trucker's Long-Distance Love Story
Five years before she told him no, Elena Marín sent Daniel Mercer a smiley face. She did not know his middle name. She did not know how he took his coffee, how many hours he could drive before his voice changed from tired to irritable, or that he would someday know the exact amount of her rent without needing to ask. She did not know that he hated uncertainty. She did not know that he would learn the names of people in her family, remember the dates of her factory shifts, worry about her son, pay bills she could not pay, ask questions she did not want to answer, and eventually become so entangled in her life that removing him would feel less like ending a relationship than pulling wiring out of a wall. She knew only that he had written to her. And that he seemed harmless enough. Hello :) Elena sent the message at twelve-oh-three on a Wednesday afternoon while sitting sideways at the edge of her bed, one bare foot touching the cold tile. The apartment was quiet except for the t...