Presents for Sophie - 2.

Eric sent me roses, the expensive kind with a long handwritten note and a box of dark chocolate. I read his words, then set the flowers beside the bed and slipped out of my shirt. Tara’s box was next. Inside sat the gold butterfly I’d been eyeing for weeks. I held it to my navel, felt the cool metal, and smiled. When I opened Stuart’s parcel, two short leather skirts slid out, black and butter-soft. He wants to see them under hot lights. The strangest gift arrived from overseas. An entire troop wrote my name across a single page. No return address, just that folded note and the knowledge that somewhere on the other side of the world men in uniform were watching me.