Sometimes I look over my shoulder because I swear you’re standing behind me.
Which bothers me because… what the fuck is that about?
I don’t know, that’s about it. That’s all I’ve got today.
Can’t wait to hear all about you. Can’t wait to see all the pictures.
Love you, girl.
Kip
* * *
The front door opened and Gram threw her arms around me.
“Kipton,” she cried out.
“Ma’am,” I said.
“Oh, stop that,” she said. “Come in.”
She led the way through the house.
It smelled like dinner again. This time it was soup.
“Here, sit right here,” she said and pointed to the counter. “Sit and I’ll get you something to eat.”
I settled up on a dark blue stool at the counter.
Gram hurried to scoop two bowls of beef soup.
She had fresh cut bread, already buttered, and helped herself to adding more seasoning to my food without asking me.
I learned the hard way to never question her cooking.
Her ten wooden spoons I bought her were down to nine… if you understand what that means.
“Thanks for this,” I said.
“No worries. Ever. Keeps me busy. I get more anxious by the day. I thought it would get easier.”
“Well, it probably did, but now you’re waiting for her to come home,” I said.
“I am. I really am. So close, Kipton.”
“How is she?” I asked.
“Great. Sounds great. She can’t stop talking about you.”
I nodded.
I had only talked to Ruby once.
We talked for five minutes. I told her I slept with twenty new girls. She told me she hated me. And it was the best phone conversation I ever had in my life.
“I have everything ready here for her,” Gram said. “I mean… you know… everything is the same. But not.”
“She’s going to be fine,” I said.
“I know. She really is. She loves photography. And painting. You really did something special for her, Kipton.”
“Not me,” I said. “It was already there for her. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Smooth,” Gram said. “Very, very smooth.”
I ate two bowls of the beef soup and then helped Gram wash the dishes.
I had never washed a dish in my life until the first time Gram cooked for me and then told me to clean everything up.
She was fierce, kind, caring, and as I stood at the sink, washing a bowl, I saw my reflection in the window and realized I was smiling.
I had no fucking clue who I was half the time anymore.
I was lost without Ruby but Gram’s house made me feel a little at home.
“Soon, Kipton,” Gram said to me.
I looked over my shoulder. “What?”
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Can’t get her off my mind.”
Gram turned off the water and made me put the bowl down. “I need to apologize to you.”
“For attacking me with a wooden spoon?” I asked. “Twice?”
“Oh, not that. You deserved that. I’ll never apologize for that.” Gram winked. “I wanted to apologize for what I said to you the day Ruby left. I didn’t mean to imply you wouldn’t wait for her. Even though I did. I…”
“You were protecting Ruby,” I said. “Just like I wanted to do.”
“Kipton… you’ve won this old lady over, you know that?”
“Aw, Gram, come on,” I said. “You’re not old. Not even close.”
Gram laughed. “Don’t make me get another wooden spoon.”
“Let me finish these dishes and then I’ll make some coffee.”
“That’s a deal,” Gram said.
“Hey, Gram, how do you make coffee?”
“What?”
“I just always buy it. Because I’m so rich.”
“Are you joking with me?”
I grinned. “Yeah. I know how to make coffee. But… have you ever had coffee delivered to you?”
“You’re going to have someone drive all the way out here to give me a cup of coffee?”
“I can do it through my phone.”
“No way,” Gram said.
“Watch and learn,” I said.
Five minutes later, coffee was ordered.
Ten minutes after that Gram stood on the front porch with a shocked and happy face as someone came to give her coffee.
BFH was a different world compared to this one.
And I was totally fine with living in both worlds.
* * *
I crouched down next to the Christmas tree and found the plug. I stuck it into the outlet and the lights came on instantly. An array of colors shining across the cabin. A bright, yellow star on top. A far cry from the bullshit Christmas trees you’d see around BFH. Everyone seemed to want bright, white lights. And silver trees. And fake snow on the fake branches. Anything to give that allure of money, wealth, power, glistening diamonds…
But this was nice.
I laughed because we were far away from it actually being Christmas.
But whatever.
This was an occasion.
I looked back at the bag on the couch.
Full of all the letters to Ruby.
I looked to the fireplace and watched the flames dancing in all directions.
Then I looked to the door.
All I could do was wait.
When I heard the sound of a car approaching, I suddenly became nervous.
Nothing made me nervous.
Except Ruby.
She always had a way of making me nervous.
Not to mention I hadn’t seen her in such a long time.
I listened to the squeal of brakes, followed by a car door opening and shutting.
I walked to the door and opened it.
There she was.
Ruby.
My girl.
Walking up the steps to the old cabin, staring at me.
“Hey, girl,” I said.
Gram beeped her horn and drove off.
Ruby threw her bags to the porch and ran toward me.
I caught her like I always did and spun around on the porch.
She grabbed my face and started to kiss me.
Kiss after kiss after kiss after kiss.
Tears filling her eyes.
I finally had to put her on her feet to get her to stop for a second.
“Wait,” I whispered.
“Why?” she growled.
“For this,” I said.
I kissed her this time.
The right way.
The way a girl like Ruby deserved to be kissed.
I felt Ruby shudder to my touch. Her knees bent.
I had to catch her from falling to the porch as she melted.
We both stopping kissing at the same time.
“I missed you, Kip,” she said .
“You have no idea how much I missed you, girl.”
“I…”
“How do you feel?”
Her eyes met mine. “Good. Really good. I swear on it too.”
“That makes me happy.”
“Kip, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Where the fuck are we?”
I laughed.
I got her bags off the porch and took her hand and led her inside the cabin.
“This is a piece of shit,” I announced. “Something my mother bought for fun. She had this dream of having Christmases up in the mountains and it never worked.”
“There’s a tree…”
“Yeah,” I said. “Someone never took it down. Who knows how long it’s been up here. But… we’re here. So… you know, Merry Christmas.”
“You know what the date is, right?”
“I don’t know, girl. Without you, I lost all track of time.”
; “Oh, here we go.”
I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close. “You have no idea how much we have to catch up on. I’ve got a whole new collection of pick-up lines.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
I looked to the fire and grinned. “I probably could put that fire out, right?”
“Why, Kip?” Ruby asked.
“Because you’re here. You’re so fucking hot, this place is burning up.”
Ruby laugh-snorted. “That was horrible.”
“Just like your laugh.”
She punched my chest. “Shut up. Asshole.”
“Fuck, I missed you,” I said. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she said to me. “Want to see all the pictures I took?”
“Every single one.”
“Right now?”
“I was hoping to give you a tour of the bedroom.”
Ruby smiled. “Of course you would.”
I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her again.
She grabbed the pockets of my jeans and pulled herself tight against me.
“Hey, what’s that?” Ruby asked.
She nodded to the couch.
And my bag of letters.
Which was open.
“Your letters, girl.”
“What?”
“I told you I was writing you letters while you were gone.”
“Really? You could have sent them to me.”
“Never thought of that,” I said.
“You’re a moron, Kip.”
She pushed me away and hurried to the couch.
She grabbed a letter and opened it.
“Hey girl… I spent the day today thinking about-”
I grabbed the letter from Ruby’s hand and balled it up and threw it into the fire.
“Hey!” she yelled.
“I kept my promise to you, girl. And I’ll keep all the others I plan on telling you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I waited. I wrote you letters. You took pictures. You got better. We both did it.”
“I guess we did.”
“I think Gram fell for me though,” I said.
“What?”
I smiled. “That’s a long story. I’ve never felt like I was part of a family until I met Gram. Or that I could be in love until I met you. This is fucking crazy, Ruby. All of this happening is fucking crazy. And I know you are far from done with everything you need to do. But know that I’ll be in your corner for anything you need.”
“It is crazy, Kip. It’s warm outside and you have Christmas lights turned on. And a fire in the fireplace burning. And I’m crazy in love with you. And I thought about it the entire time I was away. And no matter the shit I had to talk about and understand, every single thing somehow went back to you. Don’t tell anyone I’m saying this… but you saved me. You really saved me.”
I put my forehead to hers. “I’ve never wanted anything more than this. I may have been born to be a rich douchebag but none of that mattered to me. Ever. I’ve never felt what it’s like to really want something before.”
“I can’t be bought though, Kip.”
“That makes me want you even more. I’ll figure out every little thing I need to do and say to keep you around.”
“You can start by letting me read those letters.”
I moved by Ruby and grabbed the bag.
“Here’s the thing…” I said as I moved toward the fireplace. “These I wrote… for me.”
I dumped the bag into the fireplace.
Ruby gasped. “Kip! What are you doing?”
I shook every last letter into the flames.
Which was kind of stupid because the smoke poured out of the fireplace.
I coughed and grabbed Ruby’s hand and walked her to the Christmas tree.
I touched her face. “Anything I have in my heart or my mind I can say it to you.”
“The letters…”
“They kept me sane. And, plus, they were just all notes about all the girls I fooled around with while you were gone.”
Ruby slapped my face. “Asshole.”
I pulled her close to me and kissed her. “Yeah, I love you too, girl.”
We stared into each other’s eyes.
All my words burning in the fireplace.
Christmas lights twinkling next to us.
And her eyes did that color changing thing like they always did.
“So, are we just going to stand here all day and night and look at each other?” Ruby asked.
“Would that be the worst thing ever?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Ruby said. “Don’t give me that romantic crap, Kip.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
I walked to the couch and grabbed as many cushions as I could.
I threw them to the floor next to the Christmas tree.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
I grabbed Ruby and made her jump into my arms.
My hands moved under her shirt at her back.
I slowly lowered her down to the cushions on the floor.
“I’m making this a Christmas you’ll never forget, girl,” I whispered.
“It’s nowhere near Christmas,” she whispered back.
“In my heart, with you, it’s always Christmas.”
“Kip?” Ruby asked. “Do me a favor.”
“What’s that, girl?”
Ruby blinked fast and smiled. “Shut the fuck up.”
Want more #bfh?
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You may have about HCH in this book or read about #hch on social media… well, that’s the rival town for Bay Falls High. And I’m inviting you RIGHT NOW to start reading Hidden Creek High! Trust me, you’re going to want to know the story of Wes & Aira (and Nova & Elijah… and more). It’s simple. How? Check this out here: bit.ly/hch1-us
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* * *
Look for more heart wrenching, emotional upcoming novels including:
A LETTER TO DELILAH
THE WRONG SIDE
* * *
Other bestselling novels by Jaxson include:
5 Years Later
Somebody Else (& Nobody Else)
Dear Everly,
Imagine Us
Anna’s Dress
Let You Go
When I’m Gone
What You Don’t Know
Every Other Weekend
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. (This also includes the cover image and/or cover model(s) appearing on the cover. The context of this book does not in any way depict the personal life of said cover model(s). Image is licensed and used purely for fictional purpose only.)
First electronic edition December 2019
Copyright © 2019 by Jaxson Kidman
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part of any form.
Copyright image iStock/DepositPhotos
Copyright cover Cosmic Letters
KIP: a bay falls high novel Page 21