by Unknown
I finish off my glass of wine and set it on the table next to me, and then scroll to Jason’s name in my contacts, clicking on the message button. I take a deep breath, and type out a text he’ll never receive.
Me: I wish you were here to share a Dos Equis with me.
I push the send button, closing my eyes and smiling at the thought of that last beer he introduced me to in Texas. He’d worked tirelessly trying to find a beer I wouldn’t think was disgusting, and he finally found it with Dos Equis after squeezing a lime through the bottleneck and sprinkling it with salt. I’d drank three whole beers that night, and we’d gone back to his house and made furious love to each other, the delicious flavor staying on his lips for hours for me to sip at.
I toss my phone back onto the coffee table and grab one of my throw pillows. I rest it against the arm of the couch and then sprawl out, tucking Riley in front of me as I big-spoon him.
Suddenly, my phone lights up and buzzes once, indicating a text message. I snatch it up, expecting it to be Anni, since she’s coming over later, but my heart jumps into my throat when I see his name. Jason.
Holy fuck, Jason got my text message and responded. Holy shit. Oh, God. What do I do?
Open the fucking text message, you idiot! my heart screams from my uvula, using the little hanging thing in the back of my mouth as a Tarzan swing, making my head swim. I flip open the phone with my thumb, hearing the plastic make its snapping sounds as it clicks into its open position.
Jason: I could really go for a Dos Equis right now. Who is this, though?
I sit straight up, crossing my legs Indian-style in front of me, Riley making little put-out noises as he curls himself into my lap. I cock my eyebrow up at my phone as if Jason can see my reaction.
Me: You deleted my number, ass? Who else would you drink Dos Equis with?!
His response is almost immediate, making me smile.
Jason: Kayla? Holy shit. I didn’t think you’d ever speak to me again. I deleted your number so I wouldn’t be a jackass and drunk dial you again.
Me: Really? Why wouldn’t I want to speak to you again?
His response isn’t as fast coming this time, but when I receive it, my heart jumps back down into its proper place in my chest and swells to ten times its size.
Jason: I stopped myself from coming for my birthday. I knew if I came I’d only end up hurting you again. So I deleted your number and fell off the planet. With you having the baby soon, I thought it was only fair to give you and your husband a chance to see if it worked out. But now, here you are texting me. Why are you texting me? Especially on Thanksgiving when you should be spending time with your family.
I could feel his confusion as if he was standing right in front of me. I take a deep breath, and tell him my news.
Me: Next month, my divorce will be final.
Not two seconds later, I get his reply.
Jason: What?! What happened? Are you ok? Is the baby ok?
My stomach flip-flops at his worry over my daughter and tears fill my eyes.
Me: We’re better than ever. I’m finally happy. I have a great job. I’m only about a year away from my degree being complete, and my baby is perfection…
Jason: I’m so glad to hear that. But what’s the … for? I know you. You only put the … whenever there’s something else on your mind.
I give an unattractive snort-laugh involving snot and tears when I read his text. He’s right. He knows me better than anyone, and that ellipsis did mean something. I take in a gulp of air and put it out there, forcing myself to be the fearless woman I’m trying to become.
Me: I have a great job. I’m almost done with my degree. My baby is perfection…but I miss you so badly it nearly suffocates me when I allow myself to think about you. That’s why I keep myself so swamped…so I don’t have time to think of you.
I stare at my phone as I wait for his response, and after a few minutes, I’m worried I scared him off. I close my eyes and pray he doesn’t disappear after I just got him back again. Please, God, make him write back.
I nearly drop my phone when I jump a foot off the couch, scaring the shit out of Riley, as my phone starts to buzz and ring. Jason’s name blinks at me from the screen, and my heart thuds against my ribcage as I answer the call.
“He-hello?” I stammer, every inch of my body filling with nervous energy.
“Hey, beautiful,” comes the Texas drawl in that deep voice I love so much.
“Hi,” I breathe.
“I don’t have any Dos Equis, but I have a Shiner I just cracked open. What about you?” he prompts.
“I don’t…I don’t have any, but I have my wine,” I tell him.
“Go pour yourself a glass real quick,” he orders, and without questioning it for even a moment, I hop up, grab my glass off the coffee table, and go to the fridge to refill it.
When I’m comfortably situated on my couch again, my Chihuahua in his favorite spot, I take a sip of my wine and say quietly into my phone, “Okay, all set.”
“Okay, remember when we used to play 20 Questions? How about we switch it up a bit and play Confession?” he suggests, obviously wanting to tell me something serious, but making a game out of it to put me at ease in his usual Jason way. He always knows exactly how to handle me, mentally and physically.
“All right,” I agree.
“You go first.”
I scoff, laughing while I call out, “You ass. Fine.” I ponder a few moments before confessing, “I went to Pricilla’s the other day and bought myself my first vibrator. It’s fantastic!”
“Oh, really?” he draws out. “We’ll get back to that later. It’s my turn.” I grin, knowing I put the exact image I was going for in that gorgeous head of his. “My confession is…since you moved back home, I have dated quite a few girls.”
My face grows hot, and acid instantly fills my stomach. He didn’t need to confess this; I already knew, since he used to confide in me, and because I saw them on his MySpace.
“But…I found that I always…always…ended up comparing every single, solitary one of them to you. Every one. And not a single one of them remotely held a candle to you. I have a feeling no one ever will. You’re my one who got away,” he finishes. I hear his lip pop as he pulls it away from his beer bottle.
When I sat down on this couch about an hour ago, you couldn’t have paid me to believe I’d be having this conversation with Jason. I would have called you a crackhead and also a sadistic jerk for even bringing up such a silly notion. But here I am, listening to Jason confess that I’m the one who got away, who he compares every other girl to.
And then, being the brave, confident woman I’m determined to be, I take one last deep breath and tell him, “But, Jason, I didn’t get away. I’m right here, waiting. Wishing for you.”
The End of Book 2
Book 3, Wish Come True, will complete the trilogy,
and with it, my real-life happily ever after.
About the Author
KD Robichaux wanted to be a romance author since the first time she picked up her mom’s Sandra Brown books at the ripe old age of twelve. She went to college to become a writer, but then married and had babies. Putting her dream job on hold to raise her family as a stay at home mom, who read entirely too much, she created a blog where she could keep her family and friends up-to-date on all the hottest reads. From there, by word of mouth, her blog took off and she began using her hard-earned degree as a Senior Editor for Hot Tree Editing. When her kids started school, and with the encouragement from her many author friends, she finally sat down and started working on her first series, The Blogger Diaries, her very own real life romance.
If you're interested in getting your hands on upcoming releases, sneak peek teasers, or information on my upcoming personal appearances, and sales, you can join me on the social media links below.
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Book Two was so much harder to write than the first one. After publishing Wished for You, finally completing it after spending almost two years writing it, the sense of relief completion brought was instantly taken away by the pending doom that was Wish He Was You. I had the thought, Oh shit. I just finished. You mean I have to start all over again?
Looking back, now that WHWY is all finished, I believe it was the content that made me feel overwhelmed. It was not a very happy time in my life. And now, looking forward to book three, Wish Come True, I feel a sense of excitement I didn’t feel at the beginning of WHWY. I cannot wait to not only complete my trilogy, but to finally tell the world my happily ever after. Even if it isn’t the perfect tale of rainbows and butterflies, it’s real, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way, because it makes me appreciate what I have now with my wonderful husband and beautiful daughters (yes, daughters is plural. SPOILER ALERT, hehe!)
Four months after publishing Wished for You, I finally gained the courage to put fingers back to the keys (Fall Out Boy reference intended), and man, was it coming easily! I was busting out around 6k words a day, and for those of you who do not write, that’s a pretty good chunk of writing for one day. But then, on day four into my journey of book 2, I got the worst news of my entire life. My sweet, amazing, wonderful Granny, who you got to meet in this story, passed away peacefully in her sleep. One of the things that’s always made me feel guilty about moving to Texas to start my life was leaving behind my family and friends in NC, most of all my granny and Mom. Since I grew up with Granny living with us, we always had a much closer bond than most people do with their grandparents, made even stronger by the fact she was the only grandparent I ever had. And with this news came two months of the most impenetrable writer’s block. It’s like the words just left me; my hands stopped typing. I couldn’t edit or even read for pleasure.
But then, a little light. It was time for the RT Convention, and I got to spend nearly a week being roommates with one of my best friends, my Twinnie, Erin Noelle. One night, instead of staying up all hours drooling over authors like Sandra Brown and EL James from across the bar, we were good girls, went to bed early, and I wrote my little heart out for the first time in months. Just having her there to encourage me to get back to it was enough to kick my ass back in gear. At the end of our writing spree, I looked over at her and said with pride and astonishment, “I just wrote 3k,” to which she replied, “I wrote a paragraph…but DAMN it’s a great ass paragraph!” Lol!
When I got back home from Dallas, I asked my friend Stephanie Garza if she’d like to sprint, because I noticed she always seemed so enthusiastic to write, and I wanted a little bit of her positivity to rub off on me. Sure enough, sending selfies to each other in front of our computers and messaging, “You ready? 3…2…1…GO!” was really all it took to make writing fun again. I learned if you really pay attention, and weed through all the negativity some people post on FB, you’ll begin to notice those few you can call your tribe, the ones who are there to lift their friends up, even if it’s unintentional; it’s just who they are.
My Beta Girls. Dear Lord, where would I be without y’all? We blew up messenger so bad we had to make a Secret Group just so we could keep up with each other! FUN FACT! The “blog follower comments” I answer during the blog post about the dirty diaper were actually the comments made by my beautiful beta girls in our private group after they read that scene in my book.
Speaking of my beta girls:
Kolleen Oxbury, thank you for being Canadian. The Canada scene was hard enough to write, so I’m so thankful I had you to keep my details on point!
“I’m glad everyone’s balls are now where they are supposed to be.” —Kali McQuillen (I love you, woman!)
Stacia Mitchell, you have an eye for detail that makes my little editor heart proud.
Jennifer Severino, thank you for keeping me out of jail. It’s pretty awesome to have a lawyer as a friend and beta, and I love that you are just little bit evil like me <3
Melody Dawn, thank you for always being the first person to volunteer to help me with anything. You are truly the most selfless person I know.
The rest of my beta girls—Carrie, Kylie, Morgan, Rhonda, Theresa, JD, and Vanessa, —thank you so much for keeping me going! Every time I’d send you the next few chapters, y’all always begged for more. There isn’t a better feeling than that.
There are a special few women who come to mind when I think of who I want to acknowledge, and they are the ones who when I open my notifications on my author page, there are HUNDREDS of comments of where they have pimped me out. There are an infinite number of authors in the world, and yet they choose to spread the word about little ole me. Rosie Snowdon, Franci Neill, and Kali (again, you’re kinda the shit), seriously, no one would know who the heck I am if it weren’t for y’all. Thank you for pimping your little hearts out. I appreciate you so much.
Heather Lane, not only do you make the greatest book trailers in all the land, (shout out to Book Obsession Production), but you have a way of keeping me on my game. “FaceTime with me for an hour…but then get your ass to work on that book!” hehe! Thank you for helping me keep up with my real blog, Kayla the Bibliophile, and for everything else you do. I’ll keep feeding you Chuy’s and keep you stocked with signed paperbacks.
Tina Hernandez, your excitement always gets me pumped to write more. You’re so animated with your passion for books, and I’m so glad we are a part of the same team. There’s no one I’d recommend more, and I’m happy to share my Hot Tree tribe with you. Who knew years and years ago, when we met in our college elective Yoga class, that we’d end up here? Love you, girl!
Becky Johnson, you are the boss above all other bosses. I am seriously blessed to have you not only as my head honcho, but as my friend and cheerleader. You may literally be on the other side of the planet, but I feel closer to you than some friends just right down the street. When this book is released on Avary’s birthday, August 21, it will be less than two months until I get to meet you in person for the very first time. Prepare for the tackle-hug of your life, “lovely xx” <3
My Jamie-Boo, you are the best best friend a girl could ever ask for. You keep me centered and always keep me laughing. If days go by and you don’t hear from me, you make sure I’m still alive deep in my writing cave, send me a few chuckles, and then leave me to it, knowing my ass will come back around eventually. Ours is an effortless friendship, and I love you so much, my sister from another mister.
Speaking of sisters…when I was trying to figure out what name to give my ex, I asked Jamie, “When you were younger, who was the biggest asshole to you?” expecting her to give me the name of a childhood bully or something. Negative. She answered, “My big sister Amber.” So that is how we came up with Aiden’s last name, giving him Amber’s, Lanmon. Amber, thanks for being a big jerk back in the day, and thank you for being pretty damn awesome nowadays. Nothing makes me laugh harder than reading y’all’s banter on Facebook.
Sara Ferguson, words can’t describe how much I adore you. It’s probably a good thing we don’t live in the same state. The world wouldn’t be able to handle alla-dat.
Kristen Bauer, Jason’s very first fangirl. Thank you for giving me the idea of “I’m a Ho for Robichaux” as swag!
Barbara “Blue Kitty” Johnson, my feelings would probably still be in shambles if you hadn’t turned my broken heart over a bad review into the best inside joke in the world. My favorite #whore of them all.
Shawna “ZombieQueen” Stringer, my oldest book world friend, I’m so glad that when you FINALLY read Wished for You, I had just finished Wish He Was You, because I probably would have had to fear for my life for leaving you on the original cliffhanger. There’s no one I’d rather have by my side during the apocalypse.
Surprisingly, I have to give credit to Erin’s husband Zar yet again, but this time it isn’t because he’s playing the
“other man” on my book cover like last time. I ran into him while grocery shopping one evening, and after chatting about being stuck in my writing, he gave me some great advice. He said he read somewhere that a lot of the greats, while writing, would never quit for the day at the end of a chapter or scene. Instead, they would stop on a really intense part, that way when they picked it back up, they’d resume during that exciting flow, when the words just fall right out of you. Trying it out, I wrote the final half of my book in mere weeks instead of months. Thank you, Zar!
There are a few very special author friends of mine I have to show major appreciation for. First and foremost, Lainey Reese. Woman, you called me a “top shelf, five-star author,” and I just about fainted. To hear that from someone I admire as much as you…that’s a top ten moment in this girl’s LIFE. When I write the next one, my mantra will be, “Make Lainey proud.”
Crystal Aurora Rose Reynolds, you couldn’t read the love scenes in book 1, and you were scared to death to read book 2 because of the angst, but I’m so happy you finally dove in headfirst and ended up staying up all night because you couldn’t put it down. That, to me, is quite an accomplishment. I’m so glad to share a wedding anniversary with a wonderful couple who also got their HEA. If that’s not good juju, I don’t know what is.