by Vivian Wood
The Kings' house was up on a small rise, the second story windows above the tree-line giving them a nice view of the little jutting hills that in summer reminded me of tennis balls shoved under a tree carpet. But the yard sloped away from the house in what had been pretty intense sledding hill when we were kids. The grade leveled back out again just before it hit the banks of the creek. Going flying off 'the cliff' as the King kids called it was always an added worry and thrill, and one of the reasons everyone came over here on snow days.
The King brothers - all four of them that I could see- were down by that cliff now. They had pulled up stumps and logs and old forgotten lawn furniture to sit around the fire pit down there, and each one of them was wearing a ridiculous hat.
Jonah was the first to look up and spot me and the expressions that crossed his face made me walk a little quicker. He hopped to his feet, making. "Baby!"
I stopped and looked at his brothers. "Did you...?"
He startled a little. "Oh right, Finn, I was about to ask you." He turned and slung his arm around me, pulling me close as his brothers all watched with varying expressions of surprise on their face. Or was it horror? I ducked away. "What do you think Claire would say if I started seeing Ruby?"
Finn closed his eyes and then opened them to look right at me. "Well I guess it's not really her decision, now is it?" and in his words I heard an echo of what I'd said to Jonah when he'd tried to order for me in the cafe. You make these decisions that affect other people that aren't yours to make.
My heart thudded in my ears. I should have called her first before I came over here. I should have let her know that when she'd sent her brother to help me in her stead, she'd sent me right into his arms. I'd been so wrapped up in how a dead man would feel about my actions that I hadn't even thought about what my alive and breathing best friend would think. "Shit," I murmured, trying to duck out of Jonah's embrace. He looked down at me and frowned. Then his eyes alighted on the box and his expression changed to one f pure adoration. "Is that for me?" he asked.
I nodded, fairly shoving it at his chest. Shame was coursing through my body. "For you," I said, stepping back. "I just wanted to stop by and make sure you had it.
Jonah grinned his confident grin and kissed me full on the lips in front of his watching brothers. "You're amazing," he said and I could feel the shape of his words against my mouth and my body wanted to respond, but inside of my head I was spiraling into shame.
I pressed my hands to his chest and gently pushed him away. "I just stopped by real quick, I have to run," I said.
He nodded, his attention on the box. "I'll see you later, Ruby."
"Yeah, bye Roo!" Finn called as I hurried away, and he wielded Claire's nickname for me as sharp and pointed as a weapon.
Chapter Thirty-One
Jonah
She's incredible, I thought as Ruby hurried back up to her car. She'd taken time out from her lesson plans to bring this over.
I'd have to think of a way to thank her later. I could actually think of a few ways to thank her, none of which involved clothes.
"What's in the box?" Gabe asked.
I looked at my brother. I'd honestly forgotten he was there for a moment. "Nothing," I said.
"Ruby came all the way over here to bring you nothing," Finn deadpanned. "Sure, and I'm guessing that same nothing is why you're looking at her like she shits rainbows right now."
I clutched the box a little tighter. "I'm sure Ruby does shit rainbows," I said, trying to deflect attention away from my tapes. "Actually strike that. Ruby doesn't shit at all, she's too perfect for that."
"Oh Christ, spare me," Finn groaned, draining his beer.
But Gabe was still watching me with narrowed eyes. "What's in the box, Jonah?" he repeated a little more forcefully.
I hefted it higher in my arms. No, this was mine. Gid had given it to Ruby and Ruby had given it to me and I'd be damned if I had to share Gid with anyone else. It was mine now, and it should have always been mine. "It's your mama's underwear," I snapped. "That's why the box is so big."
"A 'your mama' joke," Beau intoned, raising his beer can in a toast. "Classic yet always in style, especially when used among brothers."
"We have the same mother you dipshit," Gabe sighed. "Fine. Enjoy your secret box. I hope it's full of different sized pliers you could use to remove the rod up your ass."
It was difficult to flick him off while juggling a huge cardboard box, a beer and a giant 80s tape recorder, but I managed to do it all the same as I hurried back up to the house. Shutting the door of my bedroom was a relief and I wished like hell I'd thought to install a lock.
Then I looked at the treasures my girl had brought over. She'd even thought to bring the tape recorder. It seemed awfully silly that of the four musical King Brothers, not a single one of us had a 4-track recorder lying around, but none of us did.
I heard scratching at my door. "Hey boy," I said, opening it up a crack and scratching Duke's gigantic head as he nosed his way into the room with me. He flopped down with a heavy sigh and let his head rest on my thigh. "I agree," I told him.
The house was quiet. I took another sip of the beer, feeling the buzz as it hit my empty stomach and hesitated.
The one song, the one that had brought Ruby and I together, that might have been a fluke. This whole box was a fluke, something Gideon hadn't wanted to share with me. But maybe Ruby was right, maybe he just hadn't had a chance. It was strange to think that my uncle might think what he had made wasn't good enough to share with me until it was perfect.
Just how much of an asshole was I?
I leaned back on my elbows and took a long sip of my beer, hoping to drown that line of questioning.
Then I slipped in another tape and pressed play.
Duke's ears twitched as Gideon's voice filled the room. He lifted his head and cocked it to the side. "That's right, boy," I told him. "That's Gid playing the guitar right now. Could you hear him all the way down in the shed?"
Duke stared at the player intently. Gideon was playing a slow song, something between a dirge and a ballad. It was clear he hadn't come up with all of the words yet, but as he sang, I found myself filling in the spaces that were missing. The lines came clear and perfect in my brain, like a collaboration.
I sat bolt upright, making Duke snuffle irritatedly. "Sorry," I told my dog, hurriedly switching off the player and grabbing for a piece of scratch paper. Quickly, before they left my brain, I scrawled out the missing words, adding a line for the bridge that was missing, and a note about a longer intro, something to build.
Then I sat back on my heels and stared at what I had done.
A collaboration. Me and Gid finally working together like we should have a long time ago. The idea that had been forming since last night was suddenly crystal clear in my brain.
I would need to workshop these, see how they played to an audience. But that shouldn't be hard to do. I was the biggest star this town had ever produced, all I'd need to do was ask. Hell, the entire town would probably show up to hear it. The press would be insane. I could see it now. "From King Brother to King Nephew, Jonah King's life after death collaboration with his beloved uncle."
"Yes," I exhaled aloud. It would take hard work, but that was what I was best at. And the end would result would put me right back up on top where I belonged.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ruby
Faking sick to get out of work is not my style, but it was necessary. And faking a stomach bug was super easy because half the school was out with it anyway. When I called in, the school secretary hurried me off the phone as quickly as she could, acting like I was going to somehow vomit on her through the phone.
I hung up and grabbed my purse, ready to head over to Claire's work and find out why she wasn't returning my texts.
Claire worked over in Reckless Falls at the PR department for Granger Development. She was only a junior associate, a peon really, but she took her job very seriously, always a
rriving far earlier than any of her more seasoned co-workers. I was hoping by heading out now I could catch her alone.
As I drove along the snowy country roads, I tapped my steering wheel nervously, wavering between worry over my friend's reaction when I told her the news, and pre-emptive indignation over the idea that her reaction might be a bad one. I had at least twelve different arguments with myself on the way to the resort town at the bottom of Ganagua Lake, running through every feasible scenario she might bring up and making very valid, cogent points that I hoped I'd remember once I got there.
When I did get there, I was relieved to see that Claire's shiny white Jeep was the only vehicle in the parking lot. I huddled down into my coat and rushed to the front door and pressed the buzzer.
Claire swooped over with a big smile on her face which froze into a grimace when she saw it was me. "Ruby? What the heck are you doing here?"
"Freezing my butt off," I replied. "Can I come in?"
"I'm working," she hedged.
"I know. But I drove all the way over here just to make sure you hadn't fallen down a well or something." When she looked at me, confused,I elaborated. "You haven't returned my texts. I even called and you know how I hate the phone."
She pressed her lips together and smoothed her hands down her skirt before she sat down at her desk. "Okay, so I know I didn't write back," she said. I sat down without her inviting me to because fuck it, this was Claire and she's been my best friend since fourth grade. "I honestly didn't know what to say."
"You didn't know what to say to, 'hey, when you get a chance, let's get together for a chat?"
"Well I knew what I wanted to say," she said fiercely. "But I didn't want to write anything mean that I'd regret, so I decided to not write anything at all."
There was a sensation of someone pouring cold water in my chest. "Who told you?"
"Finn told me," she said, ducking away so she wouldn't have to look me in the eye. "Like literally the second he found out."
I felt like the chair was sinking underneath me, and also a renewed wariness of Finn King. "I'm sorry," I told her. "I should have come to you right away."
She looked at me, eyes bright, "You know, he's my brother."
"I realize that - ," I started to say but she held up her hand to stop me.
"And I don't get a say in who he dates," she said. "But as your best friend, I always thought that I'd get it say in who you dated." Her eyelids fluttered a second. "Or maybe just that you'd want my opinion."
"Well, what is your opinion then?" I asked her. I clenched and unclenched my fist.
She sneered. "Jonah? You really want to be with Jonah?"
"You know?" I said. "I think you've all decided that Jonah is somebody that he isn't."
"I think I know perfectly well who my brother is."
"Well, did you know that he didn't actually stay with that manager like you all thought he did?"
She blinked. "How do you know about all that?"
"Because he told me!" I burst out. "Because I asked him instead of just that assuming he'd been an asshole."
Claire was so transparently obvious in all of her emotions that I could plainly see them all as they crossed her face. First she was confused, then disbelieving. Then she was wondering why no one had told her the truth yet, her sense of righteous indignation as the keeper of family gossip kicking into high gear.
Ultimately, she decided she didn't care and tossed her hair. "Whatever. That's between him and Gabe."
"And he and Gabe figured it out," I told her cooly. "They worked out their differences, and he explained what had happened, how he had got caught up in a breach of contract lawsuit but didn't want to trouble his brother with it because he'd had just gone through a terrible trauma already. So he took it all on himself. Don't you see that's what he does? Don't you see that's how he works? You Kings, you always told me what an asshole he was, but I wonder how much of that is him and how much of that is just you."
"Jesus, Ruby," Claire hissed. "Let it all out, why don't you?"
"You all formed your opinion on him way back when, and you've never let him grown beyond that," I said, blinking back furious tears that suddenly filled my eyes. "He's a good man. A really good man and his heart is in the right place, and I'm not going to let your opinion of him cloud my own judgment any more."
"Well fuck," she sighed and looked away for a long, long moment.
I looked down at my hands, resisting the urge to flounce off. So many fights Claire and I had had over the years lasted a lot longer than they should have because one of us was always flouncing off in a huff. So even though I had to grip the handles of the chair I was sitting in to keep myself there, I did. Waiting for her to make her peace.
When she finally turned back, she looked almost surprised that I was still there. "Like I said," she exhaled. "He's my brother."
"I told you, I don't -."
She held her hand up again. "And I love him." She must have seen my expression because she laughed out loud, "I do! I might want to kill him most days, but that doesn't mean I don't love him." Her eyes softened and she sniffed. "And I love you too, you bitch. You should have told me right away. I could have given you some really good tips on how to deal with him."
I sniffed with her. "I think it caught us both by surprise," I said with a happy sigh.
She wrinkled her nose. "Like, I'm really happy that you're happy but I'm also totally grossed out right now. You're going to need to give me a minute."
I laughed and stood up. "But you'll return my texts now?"
She stood up and grabbed me in a fierce hug. "I'll return your texts. Sorry for that," she sighed and then pulled back and grinned at me. "I backslide into being a little brat, sometimes."
"Sometimes?" I asked with an arched eyebrow and she laughed and smacked me, then the front door opened and pure terror crossed her face. "Go!" she hissed. "I'll talk to you later!" and hustled me towards the back door as I laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Jonah
I'd been working straight through for the past seventy-two hours. Phase one of my plan was nearly complete.
Now I needed to put phase two into place. But that was proving hard to do.
Venues with the right kind of equipment around here were in short supply. If I'd had a manager it would have been a matter of a simple phone call and I'd get what I was after. But I was determined to do this myself.
I swallowed and pushed my way into the Crown Tavern.
Just like I hoped, and like I feared too, Taylor was behind the counter. He glanced up, but his eyes slid right over me in a way that would have made me anxious as hell a few weeks ago. But now I was in a different position entirely.
It was odd to need a favor.
I sat down at the bar. "Taylor, man, you got a minute?"
He looked like he wanted to ignore me but I slapped a twenty down and he slowly came over. "Jonah," was all he said.
I smiled at him in a way I hoped made up for the fact that I'd been a little bit of a dick the last time I'd been in here. "Remember you asked me if I wanted to play here?" I asked him.
He lifted his chin. "Quite well, yeah," he said, grabbing a pint glass and giving it a vicious polishing.
I looked away from his hands. "Does the offer still stand?"
The corner of his lip curled. "I don't know," he said slowly. Musing. "You know we've had a lot of sign-ups for open mic and I don't have the new schedule set up yet so it's not really a good time..."
He was enjoying making me squirm. I knew he wanted me to beg, and so I gave him what he wanted. "Taylor, please, I'm begging you. I have some things I need to workshop." And a career to restart, I didn't add.
His bushy eyebrows zoomed upwards, disappearing into his mass of bushy hair. "You're kidding," he deadpanned. "And you'd want to do that here? A big star like you?" He turned his mouth down into a frown. "This is more of a place for, what did you call us?" He glared at me. "Oh that's right. Small town
dreamers."
I looked down at my hands. Pride made my fingers itch and I wanted so badly to just walk away like this was beneath me. "Yeah," I said slowly, tamping the urge back down again. I needed something from him. And I also sort of owed him an apology for being an egotistical jerk. "I guess I deserved that."
"You're an asshole, King."
"I am well aware," I sighed. "Honestly Tay? I'm trying to be better though. Got a new girl now who's making me want to be a better person."
He stopped rubbing the glass. "Local girl?"
"Ruby Riley," I said proudly.
He set his glass down and his whole persona seemed to undergo a shift. The hostility drained out of his face and he smiled broadly. "She's my niece Maddy's teacher at the school. Sweet woman."
"The sweetest," I quickly agreed.
"Wow, Ruby Riley with an asshole like you?" He started chuckling. It grew louder and louder until it became a full-blown belly laugh. "You know I still hate your guts, King," he said, his amiable tone softening the harshness of his words. "But if you managed to convince a sweet girl like Ruby to put up with you I guess I'd better do the same. How's this Saturday?"
I grinned and shook his hand, promising a huge, thirsty crowd. Then I made for the door, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I did to text Ruby the good news.
Jonah: You're amazing.
Ruby's laughing emoji came back almost immediately. She must have been on break. I hurried over to Ethel and slid into the driver's seat, turning the ignition on so I could get some heat. And while I did, she was typing.
Ruby: You tell me that every day.
Jonah: Did I tell you today?
Ruby: I just scrolled up. Actually you haven't yet.
Jonah: Well I definitely need you to know it today.