Page 3 of Break Me Like a Promise (Oak Valley)

“Okay, well if you decide you want to save money on the unit and move everything into the basement, lord knows we have the room. Are you hungry?” Her mom turned to the stove, her face hidden.

“Thanks. Yeah, I’m starving. You should’ve waited, though. I could’ve made you something.” Ruby made her way to the other side of the stove, across from her mom. The big pot had seen them through many pasta and soup nights. Tonight smelled like soup.

“Psh, I would never let you cook for me after the day you’ve had. Besides, you’ll be taking on that responsibility soon enough. But in the meantime, I’m making sure you have lots of home-cooked meals.” Beryl cleared her throat, fussing with the oven. Cake, from the way her mom stuck a butter knife in the center of two pans.

They didn’t usually talk about her mom’s cancer. Ruby barely remembered her mom’s first bout with it, but she did remember hospitals and grandparents over the course of a few years when she was young. After that, they’d celebrated her cancer-free date and only had one scare.

But this was different.

After almost two decades cancer-free, Beryl had taken a more holistic approach — if she felt fine, she was fine, despite Ruby’s pleading, begging, that she go for regular checkups. Just in case.

But by the time her mom started to feel unwell, the cancer had spread from her breast to her lymph nodes. The doctor’s were worried about it spreading even more, given the late Stage 4 diagnosis.

Now Ruby watched her mom. Her beautiful, vibrant, funny mom. There was the part of her that intellectually accepted what this next chapter would look like. But there was the other part of her that refused to accept that this was anything more than a nightmare.

Her mom set down the soup ladle, blue eyes meeting Ruby’s hazel ones.

“Honey, if there’s anything you ever need to talk about, please know I’m here. For you as much as you are for me.”

Ruby nodded, feeling the flush reach her cheeks. They had time. “Thanks, mom. Do we need bowls?”

Her mom cracked a soft smile. “Nah, I’ll pull them out of the dishwasher. But save your appetite - I made a just-because chocolate cake.”

It was one of Beryl’s favorite things to do — make a cake just for the hell of it. She always found things to celebrate.

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to all this cooking and baking before Christmas?” Ruby wasn’t sure of her mom’s limits, but judging by the way she looked, Ruby could hardly tamp down the feeling her mom could drop at any moment.

Beryl side-eyed her. “Don’t you dare start questioning my abilities, Ruby. I feel fine, and Christmas is weeks away. Speaking of, shall we go to the Christmas tree lighting in the square this weekend?”

Ruby sighed, knowing that doing anything in a small town heightened the chances of seeing people she desperately did not want to see. In high school, Colton had always dragged her to the annual lighting, and despite feeling like she’d break out in hives, she’d gone because it made him happy. Her mom had tried to pick up the mantle after, but with Ruby’s work schedule and living in New York City, the timing never worked out. And if going to the tree lighting with Colton was hard, Ruby couldn’t imagine what going without him would be like.

“We’ll get hot chocolate from the new coffee shop or For Goodness Cakes and we’ll stand out in the cold with everyone else, packed like sardines, and then grab takeout and watch a movie.” Her mom stirred the pot — Mexican chicken soup — and gave Ruby a look that said there was no room for arguing. “Besides, most of the people who used to live here don’t anymore, it’ll be good for you.”

“Fine.” Ruby turned, needing to finish getting her belongings in from the car. Her mom’s subtle nod to the anxiety high school brought was one thing, but Ruby knew it didn’t include Colton Taylor. He’d moved home a little over a year ago, and as far as Ruby could unearth, he hadn’t left.

Somehow, they’d both ended back here after ten years.

The reality of moving home, living in her childhood bedroom, was starting to sink in, and this time there was no way out.

4

Colton heard the guys behind him laughing, but he was too far ahead on the hiking trail to pick up what they were saying. The backpack slipped across his winter jacket, his shirt underneath clinging to his back from sweat. He’d more or less stomped his way up the mountain, his five best friends from high school taking their sweet-ass time. But it wasn’t their fault Colton had energy to burn — knowing Ruby was back in town was enough to set Colton’s body on fire.

“Yo, Colt! Wait up,” Liam called out, breathless. Colton let out a long, hard breath and stopped. Their footsteps grew closer, and eventually Dragan brushed past him. But while Colton settled at a solid six-foot-two, his friend was closer to six-five and broad, and Colton almost went down.

“What the fuck, man?” Colton whipped around. There was a gleam in Dragan’s blue eyes, a smirk on his stupid symmetrical face.

“It’s Ruby, isn’t it?”

The rest of the guys — Caleb, Liam, Archer, and Dean — burst out laughing.

“Dude’s got his panties in a twist,” Liam said, shaking his head.

“They’ve been twisted since he was fourteen,” Dean laughed, pushing past them to the front of the pack.

Colton’s face flushed, his hands squeezing the backpack straps until they turned white. They weren’t wrong, but that didn’t mean he needed to hear it.

“Have you seen her?” Archer piped in, walking alongside Colton as the guys continued along the path.

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