Wish Come True (The Blogger Diaries Trilogy Book 3)

by KD Robichaux

  Opening the document, I went through it, correcting punctuation, adding in missing words, restructuring sentences to make it flow better, and checked and fixed details of continuity. When I sent it back, I was super nervous, since I really wanted to impress this lady, who at the time was an English teacher who ran her editing company on the side in Australia. When she wrote me back, though, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest. “Please, work for me!” the message had said. “You caught over 200 revisions more than the other people I was interviewing. You have the job if you want it!” And so I became a Senior Editor at Hot Tree Editing.

  I started helping to perfect such authors’ works as Lila Rose, Milly Ly, Aurora Rose Reynolds, and yes, even my first author friend, Belle Aurora, plus many, many more. I was being paid, real money, to do something I loved, a job that wasn’t even a job at all. Sure, it’s a lot of work, and it takes a lot of time and brain power, since I want to do the best job I can for these authors’ babies, but it’s the dream job I never even thought to dream, never thinking something so amazing could happen to me, the girl who didn’t have a clue what to do with her life besides be a wife and mother.

  Over the years, I told many of my author friends the story of how Jason and I met, fell in love, lost our way for a while, and then finally ended up together in the end, and each one always said, “Man, you should write that as a book!” especially Danielle, who told me I married my real-life book boyfriend. I always laughed it off, thinking I’ll never have the time, especially now, working full-time at Legacy in the evenings, editing during the day, and blogging, not to mention being a mom and wife, even though it’s been my dream since I was twelve years old to write romance novels. But who knows? Maybe one day.

  Last month, I went to my very first big author signing, Naughty Mafia in Las Vegas. I don’t think anything will ever compare to the excitement I felt meeting so many of my favorite authors at one time. A few months ago, I saw it being advertised on Facebook, and after talking to Marky, he said I could stay with him and Kim at their new house in Vegas if I was able to attend. Jason told me to go for it, which set everything in motion. For my blog, I had an idea to contact all the authors who would be signing and asked them to participate in my Dare to Tell the Truth interview, and I would feature an author each day as a countdown leading up to the signing. A ton of them agreed, and I figured since they did my interview, which tended to stand out among the rest, I might have a better chance of them recognizing my name when I met them in person.

  I became Facebook friends with quite a few of them, and after I got back the interview from a new-to-me author named Erin Noelle, I hurriedly sent her a request. Her answers were hilarious and shameless, and I felt an overwhelming urge to be her friend. Weird, I know. As soon as she approved my request, I saw that she lived in Texas too, but she didn’t have the city listed, so I messaged her, and the conversation went a little like this:

  Kayla Robichaux: Hi, Erin! I’ll be flying to Vegas for the signing from Texas too!

  Erin Noelle: Really? What city are you in? I’ll be going the Thursday before the signing. My sister is coming with me!

  Kayla Robichaux: I live in a suburb of Houston. How fun! I’ll be going first thing Friday morning. I hope I have time to go to one of the shows on the strip. I went to Mystere a couple years ago, and it was AMAZING!

  Erin Noelle: I live in a suburb of Houston too! I’m in Pearland. My sis and I are going to Zumanity while we’re there. You should come with us!

  Kayla Robichaux: Holy hell! I’m in Pearland too! And that sounds like a blast. Count me in!

  Erin Noelle: No fucking way! Little did I know when I was doing your interview that you were right down the street!

  And little did we know how literal that statement was. We live exactly one street away from each other. Our kids even go to the same school. We quickly made plans to meet at the nail salon between our neighborhoods Wednesday before the signing, unable to wait until we got to Vegas.

  As I stepped out of my van, she got out of her little blue Mini Cooper at the same time, and it was like a scene from a movie, when twins who were separated at birth see each other for the first time. Our heads comically tilted to the side as we looked at each other, and I mumbled, “Do you see what I see?”

  “I’m kinda freaking out right now,” she replied, and from that moment forward, we referred to each other as ‘Twinnie’. After getting our nails done, we hugged each other goodbye and made plans to meet up at the hotel as soon as I landed. She also gave me homework, demanding that I read a book called A Table for Three by Lainey Reese on the flight. I swear to God, from now on, when Erin gives me book recommendations, they will go to the top of my To Be Read list, because that book was hotter than Hades.

  As payment for editing Danielle’s second book, she offered to make me a tank top with my blog name on it to wear at the signing, and when it arrived in the mail, I knew it was perfect—hot pink, with Kayla the Bibliophile in bold black script across the front.

  Even more exciting, Danielle decided to go to the signing too! We were so anxious to finally meet each other, the embodiment of her bestie characters Brooklyn and Savannah, that she took a cab from the Hard Rock Casino Hotel—where the signing was being held, and where she was sharing a room with other attendees—and met me in baggage claim right when I got off the plane. I quickly dubbed her ‘My Little Nugget’, the tiny woman only coming up to my collarbone. But what she lacked in height, she made up for it with spunk, and Lord, do I love her! My first mission after meeting Erin for breakfast was to find Jodi, who had flown in all the way from ‘London-ish’. I had to hug her; everyone else, I could (impatiently) wait until the signing.

  After messaging Jodi on Facebook, she replied, telling me she was at the pool, so Danielle and I went and put on bathing suits—don’t even get me started on how I had to borrow a bikini from a girl three sizes smaller than me, and had to walk sideways with my ass against the wall because there was more crack than a whore house—and went in search of the British beauty. Danielle finally spotted her after we made no less than ten laps around the giant outdoor pool party, and I tackle-hugged Jodi before getting a poolside picture with her. My face hurt from smiling so hard during my fangirl moment.

  I could write an entire novel on every second of my trip to Vegas, but I’ll spare you all the details. But here are some notable highlights:

  *Meeting Aleatha Romig at the registration desk before anyone else noticed she had arrived.

  *CJ Roberts freaking out when I got up to her table and she read my shirt with my name on it. She let me grab her humongous boobs in thanks for my review and for the picture as her character Olivia.

  *Jodi Ellen Malpas—in a pretty white lace dress—crawling under her table to get to me in order to take a picture of the two of us in our matching Converse.

  *Seeing other authors freak out when they met some of their own favorites, including Danielle, when she got to hug SC Stephens and Gail McHugh.

  *Hearing the loudest, most contagious laugh from across the entire ballroom, following the boisterous sound until I ended up at a table, where an adorable blonde author was cheering on a race… a vibrating dildo race. Asking one of the people in the extremely long line who she was, I received a wide-eyed guffaw before the reader told me, “Tara Sivec! If you’ve never read her, you have to, like, now! You will never laugh so hard in your life as you will reading her Chocolate Lovers series!”

  I had been excited to meet the authors I already knew. For some reason, it never even occurred to me I might find someone new to read. I ended up standing in the long line to meet Tara, not knowing if I would ever get another opportunity to, and told her I was looking forward to reading her work. She talked to me like we were long lost friends, treating me no different than she would her number one fan, and it made me want to read her stuff as soon as I could get my hands on it.

  When I did get to read it a few days later, I found that the reader I had talked to in line wa
s not exaggerating. It is literally the funniest series I have ever read in my entire life.

  During my night out with Erin and her sister, I told her mine and Jason's story after she asked about my family, and just like the others I’d told, she said I should definitely consider writing it down, if not to publish, then at least for my kids to read one day. She went on to tell me she’d do it as a trilogy if it were her, because it sounded like it would need that many novels to tell the whole story; otherwise, it’d end up being a 300,000 word book.

  Before we said our goodbyes, I told her how much I loved her book recommendation of A Table for Three and asked what I should read next. She was very adamant that I read Tymber Dalton’s The Reluctant Dom, which I downloaded on my Kindle app before my flight home to Texas. I’d never been turned on, happy, and sad, all at the same time before, but the author managed to evoke all those feelings inside me with her beautifully written masterpiece.

  After spending so much time with my author friends that weekend, I have to admit my fingers have been itching to try my hand at writing. And like Erin said, I wouldn’t have to publish it. I could do it just for fun. She told me that’s what her Book Boyfriend series had started out as, just a fun story she wrote for the book club she was in, and they talked her into self-publishing it. Next thing she knew, she was a USA Today best seller. I’d never expect anything like that to happen to me, but nevertheless, the thought of someone asking for my autograph the way I did at that author signing is pretty thrilling. Like I said before, who knows? Maybe one day.

  June 14, 2014

  I feel sneaky, like I’m doing something I’m not supposed to and going to get caught and then in trouble for it. I finished my edit for Aurora Rose Reynolds, and I don’t have another one for a couple days, so I don’t know what to do with my life. Josalyn is at school, and Avary is at mother’s day out for the next four hours. Idle hands, and all that jazz.

  I ask for a booth near an outlet when I walk into the Denny’s next to Baybrook Mall, and when I sit down, I order the dish Gavin got me hooked on all those years ago—the club sandwich with fries and a bowl of ranch.

  I lift the screen of my laptop and open a new blank document, closing my eyes for a moment to think back to my first days in Texas in 2005. I place my hands to the keyboard, take a deep breath, and my fingers begin to type of their own accord…

  Prologue

  Kayla’s Chick Rant & Book Blog

  Blog Post 1/23/2007

  I'm a happy person, damn it! I'm happy sober; I'm a happy drunk, and I smile until my cheeks hurt. I'm so freakin' perky all the time. I always get invited to everyone's parties; I never get scrolled over when people are looking through their phones to see what's going on. Everyone loves for me to be around because I bring no drama. I'm shameless, and will make a fool of myself to make everyone laugh. I don't say these things to be conceited; I say it to show you how unlike me it is when I tell you...

  I cried myself to sleep again last night. I cradled my swollen belly in my hands and rocked myself back and forth praying in a whisper, "Please, God, make him love me. I know you put us here to be together. Just make him realize it. Please!" The last word came out on a sob. I swear I'm not a horrible person, as I laid there crying over another man while I'm six months pregnant with my husband's baby.

  I will never say what happened was a mistake. I believe everything happens for a reason. I also believe in soul mates. But what if one person finds their soulmate and the other one just refuses to acknowledge it? Can you be happy with anyone else? Or if once your soul finds its other half, are you doomed to long for them?

  These are all questions I've asked myself since I left Texas a year and a half ago, since I left the man I know I'm supposed to share my life with. No, I didn't leave him. He told me to go. He told me there was no reason for me to stay since my semester of school ended. That's when happy, perky, shameless Kayla snapped.

  The End of Our Beginning

  A Note from the Author

  The Blogger Diaries Trilogy was truly based on my real life story with my husband Jason. While books one and two were completely accurate, I took creative liberties with book three, and to be fair, I thought I’d spill the beans here.

  About a month before I found out I was pregnant with Avary, and then moved back to Texas, Jason’s mom, Barbara, discovered she had stage 4 lung cancer. She had never smoked, and was a health freak—except when it came to chocolate—so it came as a devastating shock. When we found out I was pregnant, it’s like it took her hard head and turned it into steel. If she was going to fight for her life before, then she became the Mohammad Ali of cancer patients when she learned she had a grandbaby on the way.

  Doctors gave her six months to live, which meant she wasn’t even supposed to make it to the end of my pregnancy. She surpassed those odds and got to see Avary be born. Not only that, but the reason we decided to have the wedding only four months after Jason proposed was so she could possibly see her son get married. That little woman blew those odds out of the water once more by taking their six months and stretching it to four years, all because, in her words, she had her two granddaughters to live for. My only wish is that she could’ve seen me finally find my place in the universe, in this crazy book world, but I know she’s watching—and critiquing—my every move from above. Miss you, Momma.

  Next, I decided to write who we WISH could have been at our ceremony, our best friend Logan. In reality, Logie was deployed to Afghanistan at the time of our wedding. In our wedding program, we listed him as the best man, but had a childhood friend of Jason’s stand in for him. Thankfully, he came back safe and sound.

  I’ve gotten many reactions to my story, from people absolutely loving it, identifying with it, all the way to people calling me crazy (and other, more colorful names) for putting my life so nakedly out there. I’ve gotten a few questions from readers and friends over and over, so I thought I’d answer them here.

  “What does your family think?”

  My family is nothing but proud. They think it’s amazing that I not only wrote a whole book, but an entire series. I come from a very open and supportive family, so I’m lucky in that respect. Every member I wrote about in the trilogy is exactly the way they are in real life.

  “What about your kids?”

  I have a cleaned up version of my stories to one day give my kids when they are older, so they can read about their Mom and Dad’s tale.

  “What if something happens to your marriage?”

  There are all sorts of acronyms in the book world that I’ve learned over the years: MM, MFM, FF, BDSM, PNR…HEA being my favorite, for Happily Ever After. My friend Sierra Cartwright introduced me to one I’d never heard of, HFN, or Happy For Now. At the time these stories were written, all the feelings put into them were genuinely true. But from past experiences (the ones you read in books one and two) I know shit happens. I’ve learned from those past relationships and am no longer that naïve twenty-year-old, and much more the realist. If something ever happens to my marriage, it doesn’t change our beginning. So maybe my trilogy isn’t an HEA, but it’s definitely an HFN.

  “Will you write fiction after your trilogy is complete?”

  Yes! I already have some stories floating around in my head, and one that I’ve already got plotted out. I just have no idea how long it’s going to take to write it, since I’ve never had to make up a story before!

  My acknowledgements seem to always be as long as my books, so I’m going to try to calm my tits a little bit this time!

  I made a very special friend when I first started writing Wish Come True. It began with someone tagging me in a brilliant painting, one of Belle getting tatted-up by Beast while reading and sitting on a pile of books. I immediately messaged the artist, Joel Santana, aka themaddhattr, and asked how I could order a print and told him I would be pimping him on my book blog, since I have a minor obsession with Belle—says the girl who now has a huge tattoo of the princess that covers her wh
ole forearm. He was tremendously appreciative, and it blew me away that someone with such incredible talent was so humble. We ended up having a ton in common with our love of comic book and Disney characters, and musical inspiration, and started sending each other links to the songs he would paint to, and I would write to. Thanks to him, this book was written with Blackmill’s “Evil Beauty” blasting through my headphones, which seemed to make the words pour out of me. Follow him on Instagram at @themaddhattr. You won’t be disappointed!

  This was the first time I wrote with a buddy. TK Rapp met me every day at our Dunn Bros Coffee and busted out words for her book while I plucked away at mine. Just having her presence across the booth from me was a blessing, not to mention her laminated writing cheat sheets.

  Franci Neill, my PA extraordinaire…where do I even begin? She’s the human version of my Adderall. She keeps my head on straight when I need it to be, and takes care of my author page so I can concentrate on writing and editing. I don’t know what I would do without her. Thanks to her, I even got included in the ‘They Literary Lived Happily Ever After Volume 2’ t-shirt campaign! She’s a miracle worker, and an angel.

  Heather Lane, as always, I couldn’t survive without our venting talks. They might not be as frequent as they used to be, since she’s a big-time trailer magician and I’m always either writing or editing (idle hands are bad), but it’s a comfort just knowing she is there whenever I need to rant. She never fails to make me laugh my ass off when I need it.

  Becky Johnson. God. Y’all have no idea how excited I was to write the epilogue, when I could finally tell you about my godsend, my amazing boss and editor. A dream came true last October, when she flew in from Australia for my author signing and I got to squeeze her in person. There’s a video on my page of us meeting in real life, and those tears are real. Shit, I’m tearing up right now just remembering the experience. Love you, Becky!