by Vivian Lux
A fresh coat of snow had fallen overnight, and the whole world glittered in the sunshine. I wondered if the world had always been this beautiful or if things were different now that I had Ruby in my world.
When I got back home again, the first thing I did was cross the lawn and down to the creek where the shed sat. The snow had covered my footprints and where I had sat down in despair. But that wasn't why the shed looked different today.
Hearing Gid's voice yesterday, knowing there was something left of him in this world, something left for me to pick up and hold and have and use, it made the shed feel less like a tomb and more like a memorial to who he was. "Thanks, Uncle Gid," I mouthed to the window. If he was anywhere, he was here and he probably heard me.
For the first time in weeks, things felt settled. And it was all because of Ruby.
Ruby.
My girl.
The soft babble of the creek, narrowed in by ice, whispered through the trees. I found myself following the noise, listening the song it sang. The idea I'd started having over at Ruby's house was a tickle in the back of my brain, propelling me forward.
It was the first hike I'd gone on since coming back to Crown Creek, which was odd because I was a demon hiker back in the day. The quiet, snowy woods made it easier to hear my own thoughts.
It was a little before lunchtime before I turned back and returned to our property feeling like the idea had solidified into an actual plan. A light glimmered through the trees. If I didn't know better, I'd think someone had lit a bonfire.
Someone had lit a bonfire but that someone was Finn, and that meant I wasn't really surprised. "What's this?" I asked as I approached our fire pit.
He looked up from where he'd been feeding papers into the flames. "A fire," he said, straightening up and wiping his hands on his jeans before taking a sip of the open can of beer by his foot. "I needed to burn some stuff."
Every year my dad burned brush out here, but left the biggest logs lying in the grass as rudimentary chairs. I'd toasted a lot of marshmallows at this fire pit, but I'd never sat by a fire with a beer before. "Aren't you freezing out here?"
Finn looked up and then gestured like it was obvious. "I made a fire."
"It's November."
"Fires are warm no matter the month."
He was right. I held my hands out, letting the tips of my fingers un-freeze a bit. "You got any more of that?" I asked, gesturing to the cooler by his leg.
Wordlessly he opened his cooler and handed me a cold can. "A nice cold one on a hot day," I deadpanned, opening the tab. "Can't beat that."
"Mmm," was all Finn said, staring into the flames like they contained the answers to a question he'd been seeking forever.
I looked down at my hands. The fronts of my shins were burning up but my back was freezing. "You know, we have a fire place. Inside," I said pointedly.
"Too many people inside," Finn said.
"Beau's inside."
"Beau's not people."
I cleared my throat. "Wanted to run something by you."
"Me?" Finn raised his eyebrow and pressed a hand to his heart in a mock swoon. "To what do I owe the honor?"
"The fact that you know Claire best," I said immediately.
That seemed to give him pause. His face softened a little. Back when we were kids, Claire had been the third twin, almost their triplet. And in spite of his hair-trigger temper with everyone else, Finn had always been patient with Claire, who seemed to recognize and honor that special privilege by defending his tantrums at the top of her voice. "What's going on with Sissy?" he asked, a look of mild concern in his eyes.
I took another drink and thought carefully for a moment. It was still so new, this thing with Ruby. Nothing might ever come of it.
No, fuck that, I wanted something to come of it. I opened my mouth to ask him what he thought, how Claire might take it if I started dating her friend.
"You guys okay?" Beau called from the deck.
Finn looked up the lawn back to the house and raised his beer at his twin. "Thirsty?"
"Course! But I'm cold too!"
"There's a fire!"
Beau seemed to consider this. I shivered and dragged my log closer to the fire. A light snow had started to fall, big, fat flakes that didn't so much fall as dance in the air, light enough to fight gravity and float upward in the wind like we were in the center of a massive snow globe. Beau disappeared back inside. Finn shrugged. "Guess he wasn't that thirsty."
Then the front door slammed open and Beau started down the steep side yard lawn. He was carrying something in his hand that as he got closer resolved itself into a pile of brightly colored hats. "If you're gonna sit out here in the snow, cover your idiot heads," he grumbled, handing one to me and then chucking the other one full force at Finn who caught it right in the face.
I unfolded it in my lap and stared. "Is this one of the ones..."
"Aunt Margaret knitted?" he finished, sitting down and pulling a wholly sensible black cap out of his pocket. "You bet your ass it is. If you're going to be ridiculous sitting out here in the snow, you're going to wear a ridiculous hat."
Finn, meanwhile, had pulled his red and green chevron creation onto his head without complaint. The white pompom bobbed solemnly on the top of his head.
I burst out laughing.
Beau's grin widened. Finn struck a pose and I laughed harder. Beau's deep bass chuckle started up, the slow "huh huh huh" of his laugh that always made us laugh harder. It was contagious, the kind of shit we used to get in trouble for at the dinner table, laughing so hard you go soundless and shaking and your face starts to hurt.
Just before everything had gone foul, we'd had a moment like this. Down in London's Portobello Road Market, bored out of our mind's as Gabe's ex was shopping, some wide eyed tourist had recognized us and asked if we were the King Brothers.
"Nah mate, sorry," Finn had replied in the most ridiculous British accent I'd ever heard.
"Right," Gabe jumped in, his accent even more transparently fake than Finn's. "We do get that a lot don't we?"
"You really think we look like them?" I'd asked, not even bothering with the fake accent because I'm terrible at them.
The tourist had blinked and put her phone away, saving us from the selfie. "Oh my god you're right," she'd said, looking horrified. "You guys look nothing like them, I'm so sorry."
"I hear they're assholes anyway," Beau prompted which had her nodding and apologizing before she moved on.
And we'd laughed.
Just liked we were laughing now. "Where the fuck did you find these?" I managed to wheeze to Beau.
He nodded solemnly. "They're new, actually. She sent them. Early Christmas present."
"They're supposed to go under the tree, jackass."
"I thought it was something I got from Amazon. Didn't even read the address label until I'd opened it. Then I figured -" His grin was mischievous. "I mean, you looked cold."
"The fuck is this?" Gabe was rounding the corner. My chest tightened when I saw his sling, and the way he was moving so carelessly with it too.
"Oh good you're here. Have a hat." Beau chucked a green and white one at Gabe who let it land at his feet while he stared at it in mock horror. "Courtesy of Aunt Margaret."
"Put it on. You've got snowflakes in your hair," I instructed.
Gabe grinned and slapped it on his head one handed. The floppy tassel hanging to one side made him look like a scruffy, worse for wear elf. Beau's "huh huh huh," started up again which made me laugh again and suddenly all four of us were doubled over and everything was right again.
Chapter Thirty
Ruby
I'd finished my lesson plans right after lunch and immediately regretted making Jonah leave.
"Was I an idiot?" I asked Ginger. My heart was doing funny things and I felt like a part of my body was missing. Like I'd severed a limb and left it somewhere before wandering away. "I'm an idiot."
Ginger was splayed out in a patch of s
un on the living room floor and didn't really care about me one way or another. I reached out and nudged her with my foot. "Hey I'm talking to you. What should I do?"
In response, she rolled over, showing me her belly for a moment before flopping over to the other side and then getting startled by the tape recorder that still sat in the middle of the floor.
"It's just a tape recorder, silly," I'd admonished her. But I was feeling suddenly jumpy myself. Just the thought of my night with Jonah, the way he'd looked at me like I was something he'd never experienced before, had me tingly all over.
"He should have this," I told my kitten and then second I said it, I knew it was exactly the right thing to do. "I should go over there, bring it to him, don't you think?"
If my kitten thought I was being transparent in my desperate need to see Jonah again, she at least had the good grace to hide it by attacking her own tail.
Now I stood on the wide, slightly stooped front porch of the King house with the box and the tape recorder in my arms, wondering if I should knock. I never knocked when I came over to see Claire. I hadn't knocked since I was eight years old.
But this was different. This was... I shifted from one foot to the other, feeling for all the world like I was eight years old again when I was saved from my agony of indecision by the sound of voices floating up from behind the house.
I set the box and tape recorder down. Tugging my scarf a little higher up my neck, I stepped back down to the frozen yard. Finn's loud, mocking laugh rang out, sending a few perching crows scattering into the sky. That made me pause. Though he was Claire's favorite, I'd always been a little wary of Finnegan King. His smile was the furthest thing from reassuring. It could be happy to see you, but it also could be mocking you for thinking that.
Then I heard Jonah's voice. Smooth and loud, with that easy command he had. Hearing it now with the context of what had happened last night, made me feel warm enough to loosen my scarf again. I hefted the box again, mindful of not rattling the precious tapes around too much, and walked around the side of the house.
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 gui
tar 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.
