“That’s all I need to hear. Everything else will work itself out.”
“What about surfing? Drumming? Playing in a band?”
“Without you, Willow, none of that seems to matter.”
“You really drove the entire road trip we took in reverse?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I just… maybe I’m used to chasing ghosts around. And I thought by chasing yours, I would figure something out. All I figured out though was that I hated to be alone. I hated to sit there and not have you across from me. Watching you sip a beer and flirt with me. Or to sit in a room alone, knowing the bed behind me was a place where we spent time together.”
“Between that story and the whiskey, this all might be the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“Good. Because we’re just getting started, bunny.”
“Are we now?” Willow asked with that sly and sexy smile that destroyed my heart.
“Yeah,” I said. I touched her hair, running my fingers through it. “So much to do.”
“Are you going to buy me flowers or something?”
“I was thinking of saying fuck it to the rest of this day and night and take you again.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“Oh, I don’t think you can,” I whispered, brushing my lips against hers.
“Oh, I really think I can,” Willow whispered back, gently biting at my bottom lip.
I laughed.
She always made me laugh. No matter how tough I tried to keep myself, Willow would find that one crack and break me open.
“I am so crazy in love with you right now,” I said.
“I am too… with you… but just right now?”
She smiled, flirting with those eyes of hers.
“The thing about right now, Willow… what you don’t know… is that forever is real and forever starts right now.”
Epilogue
Months Later
WILLOW
I put my elbows onto the hot sand and let out a long breath. I looked over the top of my sunglasses and watched as Max carried a bucket filled with sand. He struggled to carry the bucket but got it to the spot where he had been working on a sand castle for the last half hour. He carefully flipped the bucket over and pressed his hands to it and held it there for a few seconds. He wrestled with it and lifted it up, leaving another piece of his sand castle standing.
I smiled and shook my head.
I felt like Max had gotten so big since I last saw him. We tried our best to see everyone at least once every couple of months. That depended on everyone’s schedule though. Travis took on a bunch of drumming gigs at different studios and sometimes had to play shows. For me, I found a great job with this elderly man named James. He was never short on stories, convinced he was going to marry me, and his family was the nicest bunch of people I had ever met. They paid me directly to take care of him.
Moving away wasn’t the easiest decision, but I needed to follow my heart.
I needed to walk away and let everyone else find a way to survive.
I glanced to my right and saw Wren face down in her phone. Her thumbs moving away at yet another text message.
“You see Max?” I asked her.
She popped her head up. “Yeah. He’s doing great. I got some pictures. I’ll have to get them developed to show Mom. She doesn’t do the cell phone picture thing. She thinks those are fake.”
“Fake? Fake how?”
Wren stared at her phone. After a few seconds, she said, “What?”
“Are you ignoring me for your phone?”
“A little,” she said. “Sorry.”
She put the phone down.
“Who are you…” I bit my words back.
It wasn’t my job to get involved unless Wren needed me. That’s what we decided together. I would forever have her back and she would forever have mine. That’s what sisters did. But I wasn’t going to step into her life and control it. And she needed to step up and actually give a damn.
Which she did.
She didn’t just work one job… but two. She was able to afford my old apartment and took over my lease. She found a nice daycare for Max to attend so she didn’t overwhelm Mom with the pressure of raising him. To me, that was a little unfair because Mom needed to be a grandmother, but… everyone was happy.
“It’s not Brendan,” Wren said.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You want to.”
“I know.”
“I promise. I’m done with him.”
“Yeah?”
“Willow, I swear,” she said.
“I believe you.”
“That was actually… a different guy.”
“Oh?” I asked. I pulled my sunglasses down. “A new guy?”
“Yeah,” Wren said. She blushed. “I met him at the daycare.”
“The daycare?”
“Yeah. He has a daughter. He’s nice. We’ve been texting a little here and there.”
“A little? Your thumbs have been going for a while now.”
“Shut up.”
I laughed.
Wren’s phone lit up and this time it wasn’t her new guy texting.
It was Mom with another video call.
I regretted showing her how to do that on her phone.
“Hey, Mom,” Wren said.
I leaned toward Wren.
Mom insisted on having the phone under her chin, staring down at it. Her face took up the entire screen more than it should. No matter how many times we told her to move the phone, she wouldn’t listen.
“How’s Max?” Mom asked.
“Hey to you too,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Mom said. “Where’s Max?”
“He’s building a sand castle,” Wren said. “Look.”
Wren turned the camera on Max and then turned it back.
“Oh, Jesus, don’t do that,” Mom yelled. “You’re going to make me sick with the spinning.”
Me and Wren giggled.
“You two are trouble together,” Mom said.
“You need to move your phone,” I said. “You have it too close to your face.”
“You need a better angle,” Wren said.
“I don’t care about that,” Mom said. “I wanted to see how your trip was going, Wren.”
“It’s great,” Wren said. “One more day to go, then we fly back.”
“When are you coming down here?” I asked Mom with a smile.
“Soon,” Mom said.
She’d been saying soon for a long time. Which I expected. To get her to leave the house was a big deal. I couldn’t imagine her leaving the town and getting on a plane.
“Want me to get Max for you?” Wren asked.
“No,” Mom said. “Don’t bother him. He’s playing. Make sure he’s drinking a lot of water when he’s in the sun, okay?”
“We know,” I said.
“Don’t get smart, Willow,” Mom said. “He’s young. He can dehydrate fast. I saw this story the other night…”
“Oh, here we go,” Wren said.
“If I was there, I’d smack you both right now,” Mom said.
We started to laugh again.
A shadow moved over my body and I turned my head to see Travis standing there. Dripping wet. Bare skin. Surfboard tucked under his arm.
I loved the way he looked down at me, his hair dripping from the ocean.
He tossed his board to the side and dropped down to his knees.
I didn’t care how many times I saw him like this, it was always like the first time. Leaving me with butterflies in my stomach. My mouth instantly going dry. My cheeks blushing. My entire body feeling overwhelmed. He was so damn good looking. And his eyes were locked to mine, making me feel beautiful.
“You can yell to Max,” Wren said. “Go ahead. I’ll turn the camera again. Don’t get sick.”
A few seconds later, Mom’s voice said, “Well, well, who is that hunk right there?”
“What?” I asked
, snapping my head to the right.
“Mom,” Wren yelled with a laugh. “That’s Travis.”
“What?” Mom yelled.
Wren fumbled with her phone.
Travis leaned in and looked at the screen, giving a head nod. “Hey there.”
“Ohmygod,” Mom said. She touched her cheek. “Did I just say…”
“Mom,” Wren said. “What is wrong with you?”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
“I just said something dirty about my future son-in-law,” Mom said. “I need to end this call.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said.
“Let me go and get Max,” Wren said.
She looked at me and rolled her eyes.
I just kept smiling.
Wren took her phone down to Max.
I looked at my left hand and smiled.
“That was interesting,” Travis said.
“That’s what Mom does,” I said.
“I should have known better,” he said. “Came out to get a quick drink. And a quick kiss from my wife.”
Travis kissed me with passion, tracing a finger along my jaw as he did so.
I loved the way he kissed me.
When he broke away, he took my left hand and flicked his thumb over the ring.
We looked at each other and both smiled.
We told Mom, Wren and everyone else that Travis proposed to me on the beach. And that we were taking our time planning our wedding to be some time in the next year or two.
“I love you, bunny,” Travis said. “I love that your family is here. I love that you’re happy.”
“I love you right back,” I said. “And I love this…”
I wiggled my ring finger.
Travis winked.
What you don’t know… or anyone else for that matter… I married Travis on the beach a couple of months ago… just us… just our forever… but let’s keep that our secret, okay?
Darlin’ -
This has been the journey of a lifetime for me with this book. Those part of my page and group and readers list have been with me during the entire journey. The days, nights, weeks, and even months talking about this book. Talking about Travis and Willow. The trailers, teasers, the book of Travis’s lyrics… and so much more. And here we are, at the end. I told you this was the most ‘complete ending’ of any novel I’ve written. I’m sure you all want to know what happened when Travis and Willow got married, and maybe I’ll write that part soon enough and send it to you. But this story is complete… because it needed to be complete. This story came from a very deep place inside me and I needed to write it, finish it, and be done with it. Travis and Willow (and Julie and Wren and Max) will always be with me. And I hope you find the same to be true.
As always, darlin’, I enjoy talking to readers. Whether you love the book or hate it, please make sure you leave a review. And feel free to email me with comments, questions, or just to say HEY! … [email protected].
Thanks for all the love and support. Hopefully we’ll chat soon.
-Jaxson
About the Author
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Jaxson Kidman is the bestselling author of several novels, including:
Dear Everly,
Let You Go
In Her Words,
5 Years Later
Anna’s Dress
When I’m Gone
PLUS MORE!
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LET YOU GO
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LET YOU GO
After our first kiss, he moved away.
After our first time together, he confessed it wasn't his first time.
After buying me my first drink, he said he was with someone else... but still loved me.
Now I'm staring at two pink lines on a pregnancy test... and the number he gave me to call?
It's been disconnected. Great.
CHAPTER 1:
Foster
“What happened to your lip?”
“Nothing.”
I watched Everett struggle to move his fingers from one chord to another. He was a lot better on guitar than the day I gave him his first lesson, but he still had a long way to go. I’d love to ride his ass about not practicing enough, but he was a street kid and I knew that that life gave you nothing but time and nothing to do with it.
“Can I show you a trick?” I asked.
“Yeah, whatever,” he said.
His bangs hung over his eyes. He snapped his head to the side and threw his hair back, but it fell forward a second later. He was still boyish and young with bright blue eyes. Probably a young girl’s parents worst nightmare. I told him straight up that when he practiced enough, playing guitar for girls when he was older would definitely pay off.
I held my guitar and leaned back against my metal chair in the small room in the musty smelling basement of an old church turned coffeehouse. I was lucky enough to know the owner - a guy we called Cheeky because he only smiled when he was in pain. He bought the building for his daughter Stephanie and helped her get it fixed up and running.
“Watch my fingers, Everett,” I said. “I’m playing my G chord, right? Now watch the transition to the D. Leave your ring finger, lift your pinky, and move your pointer and middle finger down to the second fret…”
I strummed the chord. A perfect, clean sound.
Everett bit his tongue as he copied me, making the transition. His chord was a little choppy, meaning he needed to practice holding his fingers steady, pressing harder against the unforgiving strings, and mastering the positioning on the frets to get the best sound.
“That’s good,” I said.
“It fucking sucks,” he said.
I laughed.
We made a pact when I first met him. I could smoke in the basement and he wouldn’t rat me out, and he could curse as much as he wanted without me busting him on it.
“What’s wrong, kid?” I asked. I moved the guitar off my lap.
“I suck at this shit,” he said.
“No you don’t. Just keep practicing.”
“I don’t want to. I want to quit.”
“So then quit,” I said. “Put your guitar in the case. I’ll give you a hundred bucks for it.”
“You would?”
“No,” I said. “What’s wrong?”
From the moment I realized Everett was a kid living on the streets, learning life the hard way, I took to him. I knew I couldn't save him, and I didn’t want to save him, but if I could point out a different path here and there, then I could say at least I tried.
I reached and grabbed the neck of Everett’s guitar and ripped it away from him. On the back of the cheap wood body, I saw a girl’s name. Amber. It had an X over it though, and under that, another name was carved into the guitar. Sarah xoxo.
“Girl problems?” I asked.
“No. Sarah thinks I like her. I don’t.”
“She carved her name into your guitar. That sounds serious.”
“Please. I’m sure that’s happened to you before.”
“Hell no, kid. Nobody touches my guitar but me.”
Everett’s cheeks burned red.
I grinned. I slid my foot toward him and kicked his well-worn, scuffed up shoe. “What is it? Don’t piss me off. Not today. I’ve got a gig tonight and I’m working
through some new lyrics.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I hate my name.”
“What?”
“Everett. What kind of name is that?”
“Proud?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“See? That right there. Even a guy like you doesn’t like it. You have a cool name. Foster. That’s really cool.”
I spun Everett’s guitar around in my hand and leaned it against a workbench that I found in the basement and used to work on guitars. I was sort of a jack of all trades when it came to surviving. Giving guitar lessons. Fixing guitars. Playing gigs that rarely paid in cash, mostly in booze.
“You do know my name isn’t really Foster, right?”
“It’s not?”
“No,” I said. “That’s what I got nicknamed when I was younger.”
“Why Foster?”
“Because of how many times I bounced around,” I said. “House to house. Family to family. I just started telling people to call me Foster. You know, for foster kid.”
“Wow,” Everett said. “Maybe that’s what I need to do.”
“There you go.”
“I’m going to be… Viper.”
“Viper?” I laughed. “Come on, kid. Be real.”
“How about Throat Punch?”
“Why not Rhett?”
“Huh?”
“Rhett,” I said again. “Short for Everett. So you don’t sound like an old mountain man eating sardines out of a can over an open fire.”
“See? Fuck. You hate my name.”
I laughed again. “Rhett is cool. It’s bad ass.”
“How about Ratt?”
“Rat?”
“Ratt with two t’s. Bad ass.”
“No,” I said. “You call yourself Ratt and I’m going to give you cheese to eat.”
Everett sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Rhett. How do I get people to call me that?”
“Respect.”
“Huh?”
“Get respect and show that you’re tough.”
What You Don't Know (True Hearts Book 6) Page 30
