Page 2 of Break Me Like a Promise (Oak Valley)

“Barely.” His sister was twenty-four but he couldn’t help but see her as his little sister. So of course anyone near his age — even his friends — had at one time or another tried to make a move. His blood was starting to boil.

The bell on the front door chimed, and they both looked up as their dad walked in.

Bryce was tall, broad, his beer belly dwarfed by his sheer size. Black hair only just starting to salt and pepper, skin ruddy from a life working with his body. He threw Colton a nod before giving Katie a kiss on the cheek.

“Kids. Katie, what are you still doing here? Take off, go have fun.” Their dad smiled at her.

No, beamed.

“Dad, I am having fun. You know I love it here.” She beamed right back at him, Daddy’s little girl.

Colton had to keep from rolling his eyes. Their dad had never wanted Katie to take over the family business — that was supposed to be Colton’s job. Something about how the sons in the four-generation business were supposed to inherit what started as a blacksmith forging shoes for horses and now stood as one of the oldest auto shops in America. But Colton’s football career had left Bryce with no choice, and he’d started grooming Katie late to take over.

Until Colton blew his knee out and returned home a year ago.

But what their dad didn’t want to admit was that Katie had always wanted this job. While they both used to hang around the shop as kids, it was Katie that asked questions and got her hands dirty. Colton was usually in the corner reading, or finding some excuse to go to work with his mom at For Goodness Cakes Bakery.

“Colt, did you take care of the leak in Roger’s Nissan?”

“Yeah, Damian finished this morning.”

“What about following up on the Parker’s invoice?”

“I called them this morning, Mr. Parker said he’d swing by with a check this afternoon.”

His dad grunted. “Good. I’ll see you guys later.” He gave Katie a hug and took off.

Colton sighed. He watched his sister head into the garage. The window between the offices and the work area was thin, and her laugh traveled as she joked with Damian.

She was going to be the death of him.

His phone vibrated on the counter. A text from one of his best friends, Caleb.

FYI Ruby’s back.

Colton’s vision tunneled as the world spun. Ruby Delacey, the fiery beauty of his youth, had returned.

It’d taken him years to forget the way her hair smelled, splayed on his pillow. It’d taken him years to stop looking for her in grocery stores. It’d taken him years to forget the way her freckles formed constellations only he knew. But the way his body flushed at the sheer possibility of finally running into her after ten years…

He hadn’t forgotten a thing.

3

Ruby slammed the car door with her foot, arms full with the last remnants of her old life. Turning to her childhood home, she nearly dropped what she was holding and ran.

The sun setting behind the majestic two-story farmhouse made everything feel dramatic. Straight out of a horror movie. Or family saga. It had always been too big for just her and her mom. It served them well when Ruby was in school and she’d host parties to try and make friends, but over the years it began to feel skeletal. Like the walls were caving and the bones were breaking. She ambled up the stone path, careful to avoid the inch of snow no one had shoveled, and took in the faded white paint and the porch with a slight bend in the middle. She set the boxes down, opening the front door and calling to her mom.

“In here!” Beryl’s voice echoed from the kitchen.

Ruby sighed, heaving the two boxes from the porch into the foyer. The hardwood had been worn down, begging for a refinish ten years ago. Ruby kicked off her tennis shoes, dropping her keys on the entry table, and poked her head into the dining room. The pass-through between the dining room and the kitchen enabled her to see her mom dancing to Fleetwood Mac, the oven on and the stove smoking.

“Hey, Mom.” Ruby smiled, her mom’s tangle of curls pulled onto the top of her head with a patterned scarf while she bounced around. While Ruby’s were bright red, her mom’s were auburn. Stories of her father told her she looked more like him than her mom.

“Oh! Hey, honey.” Beryl turned. “Did you have a nice drive?”

Ruby saw behind the wide smile. The deeper crows feet, the dark circles, the thin slope of her neck. Seeing her mom so tired, so flat, was startling.

“Y-yeah. Yeah, it was fine. Everything got to the storage unit and I have everything I need for the time being.”

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