Chapter 10 Kingston
KINGSTON
I almost turned the truck around twice before I reached Main Street.
The closer I got to the town square, the brighter the lights became.
Strings of gold and white wrapped around lampposts, garland draped along storefronts, and people bundled in coats and hats making their way toward the enormous evergreen at the center of the square.
The whole town glowed, and I felt completely out of place.
I sat for a moment at the intersection, the engine idling, watching families cross the street and laughing as their kids tugged them toward the tree.
The entire town had shown up. Memories I tried hard not to revisit pressed at the edges of my thoughts.
Scarlett and I used to weave through these same crowds on winter nights, her hand tucked in mine, her laugh easy and bright.
Tonight, she was somewhere out there without me.
The idea twisted painfully and, at the same time, pushed me out of the truck before I could talk myself out of it. The cold slammed into me, sharp enough to sting my lungs. Snowflakes caught in my eyelashes as I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and started toward the square.
People noticed me before I’d even crossed the street. Conversations paused. A few heads turned. Someone nudged someone else. I kept walking, my breathing slow and controlled, every instinct urging me to keep my eyes down and pretend I didn’t hear the whispers.
Then I spotted her.
Scarlett stood at the front, close to the tree, her coat zipped tight against the cold, a knit hat pulled low over her curls.
She looked steady and unsure all at once, exactly how I felt.
When her gaze lifted and caught mine, something warm and solid clicked into place inside my chest. I didn’t think. I just moved toward her.
Her breath fogged the air as she exhaled, her eyes roaming over my face like she needed to make sure I was real.
“You came,” she said low enough that only I could hear her.
“I wasn’t going to let you stand out here all alone.”
She let out a breath that sounded almost like relief. The glow from the streetlight behind her softened everything: her cheeks, the curve of her mouth, the shine in her eyes.
Orville’s voice cracked over the loudspeaker, announcing that the countdown would start soon, but the noise faded as the two of us stood there, neither one of wanting to look away first.
“I meant what I said last night,” I told her. “About wanting to make things right.”
Her voice wavered. “Then do it. Say what you need to say.”
“I love you.” I didn’t ease into it or soften the edges. I told her the truth. “I’ve loved you my whole damn life, and I hated myself for pushing you away. But I did it because I thought it would keep you from getting pulled under with me.”
She blinked hard, but a tear still escaped and rolled down her cheek. She didn’t hide it and didn’t apologize for it either. Instead, she stepped a little closer, her voice low and quiet.
“I lost you anyway, Kingston. I would’ve rather stood beside you than spend years wondering if it was something I did wrong.”
The ache in my chest tightened. “There was nothing wrong with you. There never has been. Only me.”
“That’s the part you still don’t see,” she whispered. “You think your past is the worst thing about you, but the only thing that ever broke my heart was that you decided to end things without ever giving me a choice. I love you. I would have waited a lifetime for you.”
I held her gaze as the crowd around us went quiet. Somewhere behind us, a small voice shouted, “Start the countdown!” Mayor Nelson laughed, shuffled his notes, and finally announced it was time.
Scarlett’s eyes shifted toward the lights overhead for a split second, then back to me. “Stay,” she said. “Not just tonight. Stay and let people see you. Let them know you’re not hiding anymore.”
I hesitated out of habit, my chest tightening. The familiar urge to run and protect myself surged, but the way she looked at me, like she would single-handedly fight off the crowd, made something inside me unlock.
“I’ll stay,” I said. “If you stay with me.”
Scarlett reached for my hand. “That’s the only way I want to do this.”
We interlaced our fingers as the crowd started the countdown.
“Ten!”
“Nine!”
“Eight!”
Families pressed closer to the tree. Kids bounced on their toes in excitement. The cold bit at my nose and the wind tugged at my coat collar, but Scarlett’s hand was warm, her grip firm.
“Seven!”
“Six!”
“Five!”
People glanced our way. Scarlett’s eyes kept me anchored. She wasn’t hiding. She wasn’t flinching. And she wasn’t letting go of my hand.
“Four!”
“Three!”
“Two!”
Her thumb brushed gently against mine, grounding me as the whole crowd shouted—
“ONE!”
The tree exploded with light. Hundreds of bulbs blinked on at once, warm and bright, throwing a golden glow across the snow-covered square. Gasps rose from the crowd, followed by applause and a few scattered whistles.
But Scarlett wasn’t watching the tree. Her eyes were on me.
Someone nudged me from behind. I turned to see Shane standing there with Caitlin tucked under his arm.
“Don’t let us interrupt,” Caitlin said, her eyes twinkling as she looked between Scarlett and me. “We just wanted to see the two of you make up in person.”
Shane shook his head. “Ignore her.”
“Ignore him,” Aiden said, coming up behind him. “He doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body.”
Scarlett laughed softly, and the sound unraveled the knot in my chest. Before I could respond, Levi wandered over, hand in hand with a woman I recognized as his brother’s ex, Brooklyn. Shane gave me a steady nod, the kind men give when they want you to know you’re welcome to stand beside them.
Brooklyn practically vibrated with excitement. “I am absolutely loving this energy. The lighting, the romance, the snow? It’s stunning.”
“Please don’t record them,” Levi murmured, reaching for her phone.
“But it’s so romantic,” she whispered back with a grin. “If we don’t document it, did it even happen?”
Across the square, a small commotion caught my attention. Cullen lifted a little boy up to see the tree better while the woman next to him tried to stop the kid from dropping kettle corn all over his dad’s hair.
Scarlett followed my gaze and smiled. “Looks like the whole town is out tonight.”
“Anyone need more cocoa?” My brother’s girl, Natalie walked up with Kacen right next to her. “Kingston, don’t let him talk you into doing something stupid.”
“I’m right here,” Kacen said as he handed Scarlett a cup of cocoa. “And I only talk people into stupid things when it’s fun.”
“Not tonight,” Kara said. I recognized her as the owner of the local bookstore I’d financed. We’d talked on the phone once but had never met in person. She offered a small smile. “Tonight is supposed to be good.”
Ty looked at her, softened, and slung an arm around her shoulders. “No one’s going to cause any trouble tonight. We’ll make sure of it.”
Scarlett leaned into my side. Not enough to draw attention, but enough that I felt the warmth of her shoulder against my arm. The gesture was small but changed everything. She anchored me and made me feel grounded.
Ruby barreled over next in a long red coat, her jingle bell earrings bouncing. She crossed her arms and gave me a glare frosty enough to freeze anything within a ten-foot radius.
“Kingston Raines, you made her cry again,” she said.
Scarlett groaned. “Ruby.”
“It’s true,” Ruby insisted. “I saw her earlier this afternoon and I could tell she’d been wasting more tears on you.”
“Ruby,” Scarlett repeated, burying her face in her scarf.
But Ruby’s expression softened as she looked between us. “He’s here, sweetheart. That means something.” Then she leveled her gaze at me. “If you leave and break her heart again, I swear I’ll put your face on every missing person flyer in the county until I find you and drag you back here myself.”
Kody and Huck joined the circle with Garner right behind them. Huck coughed into his hand. “Not legal, Ruby.”
“I didn’t say it was legal,” Ruby fired back.
Scarlett stepped closer to me. “Ruby, stop.”
Ruby smiled, satisfied. “Fine. But only because you look happier than I’ve seen you in years.” She finally drifted off toward Orville, muttering something about needing to find more marshmallows.
Scarlett turned back to me, her eyes shining in the glow of the lights.
“Everyone’s staring at us,” I murmured.
“Let them,” she said. “I’m done worrying about what they think.”
I let out a long, slow breath. “Then I’m done too.”
Her lips curved. “Good.”
The wind brushed flakes of snow between us as she slid her hands up my coat, her fingertips curling into the fabric. Her voice dipped low, meant only for me.
“So what now?”
“Now,” I said, “I take you home.”
Scarlett smiled as if she’d been waiting to hear those words for the past fourteen years. And maybe she had been.
She threaded her fingers through mine again, the way she always used to, and together we said our goodbyes to everyone who’d gathered around us.
“You’re both invited to the ranch for Christmas dinner,” Shane said as he shook my hand.
I looked at Scarlett as I wrapped my fingers around his. “We’ll be there.”
Then we stepped out of the glow of the tree, past the families and friends who pretended not to watch us, past the whispers that no longer felt like walls, past the memories that had weighed me down for so long.
For the first time, the town didn’t feel like a place I had to survive. It felt like a place I could stay.
And with Scarlett’s hand in mine, I knew I already had something better than forgiveness. I had a future.