My Daughter Wrote Her Teacher a Letter Asking Her to Marry Me. The Teacher Showed Up at Our Cherry Farm With Her Answer

I started apologizing before she even reached me.

“I’m so sorry. She’s fourteen. She’s been through a lot. I’ll talk to her. You should report it to the principal if you need to…”

“Mr. Hollis.”

“…she’s never done anything like this before, she’s actually a very good kid…”

“Nate,” Abby said.

I stopped.

She was smiling.

“It’s the best letter I’ve ever received from a student,” she said. “Grammatically, it’s flawless. The persuasive structure is excellent. She used a semicolon correctly, which I’ve been trying to teach for two months.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“I’m not here to report anyone,” she said. “I’m here because I promised Ellie I would answer her letter in person. That’s what you do when someone writes you a real letter.”

“And what’s your answer?”

Abby looked past me toward the house. Ellie was on the porch, pretending not to watch, failing completely.

“My answer,” Abby said, “is that I don’t marry men I’ve never had coffee with.”

She turned back to me.

“But I do drink coffee.”