Page 13 of Save You (Maxton Hall #2)

Ruby

The memory of James is so strong that, even after weeks of no contact, everything still feels like it happened only yesterday.

I’m sleeping badly. I delete his photos from my laptop, only to download them again a day later, and run my fingers over his smiling mouth like a psychopath.

At the same time, I feel like a liar because I told Lydia that I don’t want him back, when my body is clearly not of the same opinion.

I miss James.

It’s absurd.

Absurd and insane.

And I could slap myself for it. He broke my heart, for God’s sake. I really shouldn’t miss a person who does a thing like that.

Christmas comes and goes and, for the first time in my life, I can’t enjoy it.

The films we watch seem dull and all the songs we listen to sound the same.

I know that Mum and Dad have been cooking flat-out, but the food tastes bland.

And to top it all off, my relatives keep asking me why I’m so down and whether it has anything to do with the boy who gave me that lovely bag for my birthday.

After a while, I can’t take any more of it and crawl off to my bedroom alone.

Once we get to the end of the year, I decide that I can’t go on like this a minute longer. I’m sick of feeling like this. I’ve always been a positive person who looks forward to new beginnings. I refuse to let James take that mindset away from me.

So I jump up and have a shower, dress in one of my favorite outfits—a tight tartan skirt and a flowy cream blouse—grab my new bullet journal, and go downstairs, firmly resolved to announce my New Year’s resolutions to Ember and our parents.

But as I walk into the living room, I stop in my tracks.

“What are you doing here?” I ask in surprise.

Startled, Ember whirls around to face me, and so does Lin, who was in the middle of slipping colorful mini umbrellas into an array of glasses.

Lydia pauses in mid-movement too, but the streamer in her hand takes on a life of its own and unrolls itself.

We watch in silence as it ends up in a sad little heap on the floor.

Then Ember plants herself crossly in front of me.

“Why did you pick today of all days to emerge from your shell?” she snaps.

“We’ve been able to set our watches by the times you come out of your room, but now—right when I’ve been planning a surprise girls’ night for you—you have to come down early. That’s just…bloody hell, Ruby!”

I look at each of them in turn. Then a slow smile spreads over my lips.

“We’re seeing the new year in together?” I ask cautiously.

Lin smiles back at me. “That was the plan.”

As the realization truly sinks in, I give Ember a firm hug. “Thank you,” I mumble into her shoulder. “I think this is just what I need.” And Ember had guessed that, which shows me yet again that she knows me better than anyone else in the world.

“I thought it might help cheer you up a bit,” my sister whispers, stroking my back.

I nod. For the first time since the whole thing happened with James, I feel truly happy. “Thanks,” I say again, to Lin and Lydia, hugging each of them too. “I can’t wait.”

After that, I help them put up the rest of the streamers and to scatter the rose-gold confetti.

Ember hooks up the ancient pair of speakers we bought at some flea market to her laptop and tells me the plan for the evening while hunting for a suitable playlist. She’s obviously had a lot of ideas and planned everything down to the tiniest detail, which makes me want to fling my arms around her neck again.

But I refrain, and just listen from my spot on the sofa.

“I thought we could start by writing down our favorite moments from the last year and then sharing them with each other. Then we can watch a film—we’ll pick one in a minute—and polish off this mountain of popcorn.

” She points to a bowl on the coffee table.

Dad normally uses it for taking enormous salads to family parties.

Now it’s filled to the brim with popcorn, and the sweet, buttery scent of it is wafting across the whole room, making my mouth water.

“Then we can have dinner,” Ember continues. “Dad’s made us quiche for the main course, and there’s pudding too, and then we’ll get to what I suspect will be Ruby’s favorite part of the night.”

Lin holds up a translucent bag, in which I can make out little books and pens.

I don’t even pretend to think about it. “Writing our New Year’s resolutions!”

Ember nods and laughs. “And at midnight, the dancing starts—unless we’re all in a food coma.”

“One or the other, definitely,” says Lydia, taking a handful of popcorn. She flicks the first piece into her mouth, and a slight smile plays around her lips. “Sounds like a nice plan, doesn’t it, Ruby?”

“Nice? It’s the best plan I’ve heard in ages. Thanks, everyone.”

After that, we settle down on the floor around the coffee table. Lin smuggled out of school a couple of the huge sheets of paper we normally use for brainstorming at committee meetings and we spread them out in front of us, a Keaton Henson playlist playing in the background.

“OK.” Ember starts things off. “One of my biggest highlights of the year was my work on my blog and getting so many new readers.” She jots that all down on her paper.

“So, a high point for me was my mum’s gallery finally breaking even. We’re doing really well at the moment and I hope it’ll be the same next year,” Lin says, her attention focused not on us but on the pen in her hand. I’m surprised that she’s shared something that personal.

She and Lydia don’t know each other all that well, and I could understand them finding the situation awkward. But neither of them seems to, and that’s really nice.

“I went to your gallery once,” Lydia says suddenly. “With my mum.”

Lin looks up in surprise. “Really?”

Lydia nods. “It’s lovely, so stylish. I’ll cross my fingers for you for things to go better still next year. I know how tough it can be, especially when you’re starting from scratch.”

The two of them smile at each other, then Lydia clears her throat. “I had a mini-break in the Alps with Mum in January. We went to a spa hotel and really spoiled ourselves—just the two of us. It was the first time in ages we’d done anything like that. I think that’s my nicest memory from the year.”

“It sounds gorgeous,” I say quietly, resting my hand on her knee for a moment. I don’t know what else to say, but want to show her how much I appreciate her honesty.

“How about you, Ruby?” Lin asks.

For a second, my mind’s a complete blank and I have no idea what I could write on my paper.

But then I scan through the year, a month at a time, and realize that overall, it was good.

Despite how sad I’ve been since the thing with James, so much has happened, just since September, that I can be grateful for.

I’m events team leader, my grades are good, and I got an interview at Oxford. I’ve got to know Lin better, got closer to Ember, and I’ve even made a new friend. And, for the first time in my life, I’ve fallen in love.

However badly it ended for James and me…when I think back over our conversations, our phone calls, and our shared memories, I regret nothing. On the contrary, even that experience is one of the highlights of my year. Even if it’s all over.

I gulp hard and stare at the white paper on the table in front of me.

“I don’t even know where to start. I think the Oxford visit was the best. I’ve spent so long dreaming of strolling around there with my family. And actually being there…I’ll remember it forever,” I say hoarsely, forcing myself to smile.

“It looked like something out of a fairy tale,” says Ember.

I nod, draw a little bubble, and write Oxford trip inside it.

That seems to have broken the ice. We share even our tiniest and weirdest memories of this year. Like the time Lin won a bouquet of flowers in a supermarket for being their thousandth customer, or the time an old lady slipped Lydia a pound coin and told her to buy herself a treat.

Soon, the mood is much more cheerful than when we started out.

We laugh together, and it feels like the four of us have been friends for ages.

Around eight, Mum and Dad say goodbye and drive round to some friends.

I can see how relieved they are that I’ve ventured out of my room this evening and I’m spending the night with friends.

After that, we watch How to Be Single , which was one of Ember’s Christmas presents—she loves Rebel Wilson—and two hours later, when the credits start to roll, I get why.

Even Lydia laughs out loud in some places, although every time that happens, she looks like she can hardly believe it’s her making that noise.

Before the end of the credits, we launch into Dad’s quiche.

“You’re so lucky, Ruby.” Lin’s holding up a forkful of quiche and studying it closely. “To have a baker for a mum and a chef for a dad. If it were me, I’d be in seventh heaven. I miss our cook at home.”

“You used to have a cook?” Ember asks, wide-eyed.

“Yeah,” says Lin, shrugging her shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“But then everything changed at home and I had to learn all the basics. Mum’s cooking skills were kind of rusty too, but she’s taught me lots of great Chinese recipes that she got from her gran.

These days, we really enjoy cooking together. ”

I take a bite of quiche and let it melt on my tongue.

“The only thing I can cook is scrambled eggs,” Lydia says pensively. “That must have been such a drastic shock to you and your mum.”

For a moment, Lin seems surprised by Lydia’s words, but then she smiles slightly. “I’ve learned never to look back, only forward.” She puts her fork down on her empty plate and wipes up the last crumbs with her finger. Then she picks up one of the bags. “We should do these now. It’s almost ten.”