Somebody Else (Somebody, Nobody Duet Book 1)

  SOMEBODY ELSE

  Somebody, Nobody Duet Book 1

  Jaxson Kidman

  Contents

  Foreword

  Stay social with Jaxson

  The True Hearts Collection

  Somebody Else

  1. Bump

  2. Send

  3. A Little Smoke

  4. Always Cold

  5. The Stars and Replies

  6. A Fighter’s Heart

  7. Peppermint Kisses

  8. Hey Coach

  9. More Tricks Than Treats

  10. An Introduction

  11. Dancing Breaths

  12. First Snow

  13. A Little More Than a Little

  14. The Heat You Feel

  15. That Time at the River

  16. A Dangerous Road

  17. Everything Fake

  18. Between Two

  19. The Ugly Blanket

  20. New Kinds of Words

  21. Everything to Remember

  22. No More Hiding

  23. One Too Many

  24. One Last Question

  NOBODY ELSE

  Hey darlin’

  About the Author

  Foreword

  From the soul of worldwide bestselling author Jaxson Kidman comes a duet that travels through an entire relationship… from that first glance to first kiss… to the deepest heartache and the saddest goodbye… only to find a second chance.

  ‘Your heart is the most important thing in the world to me. And I hope it’s the same for him.’

  Written by Jaxson Kidman

  Stay social with Jaxson

  Readers List (part of True Romance Obsession): bit.ly/jk-readerslist

  Jaxson Kidman Facebook fan page: www.bit.ly/JK-facebook

  Jaxson Kidman Official Facebook group: www.bit.ly/jk-group

  True Romance Obsession Facebook book page: www.bit.ly/TRO-facebook

  Instagram @kidmanthejaxson

  The True Hearts Collection

  The True Hearts Collection are all stand alone novels, meaning they have no reading order. They are all different characters, settings, and come with their own complete ending. They are based on similar themes of second chance romances, hard pasts, and love that is real.

  Each book in the series has been Top 100 in its category, with half the collection reaching the Top 100 of the ENTIRE Kindle store, including titles award as ‘Kindle Unlimited All-Star’ novels.

  When you’re done reading SOMEBODY ELSE & NOBODY ELSE, start reading the True Hearts Collection:

  (in order of date they were published -

  THERE IS NO READING ORDER)

  5 Years Later

  Dear Everly,

  Anna’s Dress

  Let You Go

  When I’m Gone

  What You Don’t Know

  Every Other Weekend

  Somebody Else

  He was the one I loved.

  I was the one who walked away.

  We both know why.

  I was never supposed to see him again.

  *

  What I have now looks perfect on the outside.

  The car. The career. The house. The neighbor-slash-best-friend. The handsome man holding my hand.

  We can talk about everything. Except the past.

  That’s good enough to get by.

  *

  When Brice comes crashing back into my life, it’s not fate, it’s torture.

  My quiet, simple, perfect life is exposed, just like my still-healing heart.

  I don’t intend to hurt anyone.

  But with two hearts demanding my love, I have no choice.

  1

  Bump

  YEARS AGO

  Kinsley

  The morning was quiet. Standing at the counter, I caught my breath and poured the first of a few coffees because I needed it. The back patio was finally completely cleaned off and had a black metal bistro set on it that was a surprise for me a long time ago. There I was supposed to sit, think, and eventually study. Now, I sat there, my hand resting on the large bump that was my belly, and I’d hum songs because I swore I read somewhere that the baby could feel the vibrations.

  “Won’t be long now,” I whispered as I lifted the mug off the counter.

  I had heard that stupid phrase at least five times a day from people. As though I expected to be pregnant for the next ten years. Then again, the last month had somehow felt like ten years. Nothing had let up during the entire pregnancy. From the intense morning sickness that wasn’t just morning (hello morning, noon, and night), to the second trimester sickness that I didn’t even know was possible, which all gave way to the third trimester, which was just something I could dream about. Well, I could think about, because dreaming required sleeping and sleeping was not my best friend these days.

  But it was okay.

  Everything was okay.

  That’s what he told me every morning, every afternoon, and every night.

  I believed him.

  How could I not?

  This was the definition of true love. Of a wild love that took twists and turns like the roller coaster at the carnival where he first told me he loved me and where we snuck into the back woods to find a different kind of ride to get our hearts racing.

  Oh, the stories I could share with our little one on the way.

  We decided not to find out what we were having. Just because we could decide to do that together. As if we hadn’t created enough tension in the world already.

  But that was us. That was what we did.

  I sipped the coffee and smacked my lips together.

  The sun was lifting higher into the sky by the minute. When its first rays hit my skin to warm me up, I shivered.

  I felt our little one give a kick and I touched my stomach.

  “Good morning to you,” I said. “You kept me up all night. I can’t figure out if you’re going to be a gymnast or a daredevil. Probably both if you have enough of me and your Daddy in you.”

  The thought made me smile. I hoped our little one would get the best of me and him.

  But more than anything in the world… aside from the tension, problems, needless drama and the bad sides of us, the only thing I wanted - we wanted - was a healthy, little baby to call our own. A life to cherish, love, raise, and send off into the world to create his or her own destiny.

  It seemed like a lot to ask… and as we’d find out - it was.

  2

  Send

  YEARS (AND A WEEK) LATER

  Brice

  I sat on the couch and looked at my laptop on the table. Beyond that, a small fire slowly died out in the stone fireplace. The word cozy left this place a little while ago. My entire world had been flipped upside down. All because of a fucking email. It wasn’t the content of the email, trust me, it was something else.

  My bare toes wiggled on the cold hardwood floor. I slammed my hands to my knees and stood up. There wasn’t enough booze in the kitchen cabinet or beer in the fridge to ease me. To make me forget what I saw. To convince me that what I was thinking about doing was actually a good idea. And while it was a bad idea, there was no stopping me from doing it.

  Sometimes in life you needed to jump. While others carefully looked at the ledge and tried to figure out if it was safe to jump, I’d walk up to it, give it one look, and I’d be gone. But then there were times when I would jump without even looking. And that was all because of…

  I shut my eyes as I walked across the floor.

  I shook it away.

  I had to shake it away.

  Everything.

  What I was feeling. What I was thinking.


  I crouched in front of the fireplace and reached for a couple of pieces of wood. I tossed them into the fire and within a few seconds the fire was already burning bigger and hotter.

  It made me grit my teeth.

  The wood burns because there was already a spark…

  I didn’t need to do the cliché metaphorical bullshit thing in my head to make the connection of the fire burning before me and the fire burning inside me.

  My right hand twitched and reached out as though I expected a loyal dog to come to my side. Something to distract me. Something to keep me company while I enjoyed the peaceful quietness of my little cabin, tucked away from being near too many people at once.

  That’s when I knew I had a decision to make.

  Get a dog or take care of that email.

  A dog would keep me safe. Keep me company. Keep me on a path that would make it a little easier on my already beaten up and scarred heart.

  I looked to my right to the phantom dog.

  A black lab. A big German shepherd. A loyal golden retriever.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw my laptop just sitting there on the table.

  She had been a million miles away for years, but now with just the press of a button was back to me. Unless, of course, she ignored my email or just the sight of my name was enough to make her want to change her email address. Which was very probable.

  Only I knew one thing for sure.

  Standing on that field hours ago, watching all those little kids kick around soccer balls, there was only one thing on my mind. And hers too.

  Our daughter should be here. Right now. Seven years old. Chasing a soccer ball around, wearing pink cleats, purple socks, dirty blonde hair dancing behind her as she ran.

  My stomach twisted and I stood up.

  A new plan came to mind.

  First, a drink to chase away the memory of the daughter we lost… and then I was going to hit the send button and send us spiraling back into destiny.

  3

  A Little Smoke

  A WEEK AGO

  Kinsley

  You wouldn’t know where the house was unless you already knew. Did that make much sense? No. But it was the truth. I’d driven by the road a hundred times before the house ever popped up For Sale. It was the perfect house. It was hidden. It was quiet. The neighbors to our left worked odd hours and rarely talked to us. The neighbors to our right became something like friends. It was exactly what I needed… and it was exactly what I needed him to give to me.

  Like watching the pouring rain hit sidewalk chalk, making long, colorful lines down the street until they spread wide enough that the color faded and was no more. That’s what I had become.

  It was my life.

  It was now perfect.

  I turned left without a blinker as I sighed at the relief of feeling home. Of the four houses in the cul-de-sac, ours was the one completely hidden, thanks to a weeping willow tree at the neighbors’ house on our left. The Crowney’s. I was forever thankful for that weeping willow.

  I hit the small button above my head and watched as the garage door opened. Our black mailbox still had its red flag up. That told me that Hank was delivering mail today. We had two mailmen in the neighborhood. Hank was old, moved slowly and talked to everyone he possibly could. He tried to get everyone to go to his daughter’s supply selling parties, acting as some kind of marketing guy for her little business. I went to one once and never went again. I had plenty of viable excuses to avoid another party. Last thing anyone needed was more plastic bowls where the lids never added up and never matched. But that was part of this life. If that was the biggest problem in my life, then things were going okay. Our other mailman, Ted, was younger, always wearing shorts, had tattoos on his legs and spiked hair with blond frosted tips as though he were out of a 90’s pop music video. He was always there early, and on the rare occasion I was home when he came to deliver the mail, he would wave, smile, and keep moving.

  This was life. This was living.

  I pulled my expensive SUV into the garage. A bright yellow tennis ball hung from a beam. Ben did that to make sure I didn’t mess up parking the SUV. He feared I would go too far forward and hit the custom shelves he had installed with color coordinated totes of holiday items and clothes. Or if I didn’t pull in far enough and closed the garage, I would damage the SUV and the garage door.

  The tennis ball gently rested on the hood of the SUV and I put it in park and shut it off.

  It was five.

  Ben probably wouldn’t be home for another couple of hours. He was down in center city Philly at a meeting with a bank and another investor. Forever working on another deal to make more money and build his real estate empire.

  For some odd reason, I caught myself looking down at my left hand. My ring finger still bare. Still bare. There was a small sliver of my heart that wondered what Ben was waiting for. We had been together long enough. We bought a house together. Well, he bought a house for me. We were like a married couple in every sense of our lives, just without the formality of, you know, a wedding. At the same time, it really didn’t bother me. There was this connection between us where our togetherness was the foundation of our relationship. We didn’t need the cliché engagement, big wedding and wedding rings to show the world that we were together. Forever flirting with that sense of easy freedom to make sure we were meant to be together.

  I climbed out of the SUV and walked to the driveway.

  Dead leaves rustled with the wind, a few letting go and floating to the ground. Fall was officially here, even if Summer did all she could to keep her fingers wrapped tightly around us. The days were getting shorter, but it was still warm during the days. The colors of the leaves were just beautiful. The bright reds, burning oranges, hints of green, lots of browns… it was like standing there in a postcard.

  I took a deep breath to smell that autumn scent.

  I got a hint of it for a couple of seconds before the tangy odor of cigarette smoke made my nose curl. My eyes gazed to the right and I saw a puff of smoke at the other side of the white vinyl fence.

  I could have gone inside and minded my own business. Flipped through a mindless magazine or some knick-knack catalogue where I would use a credit card to buy what I wanted. Ben would get annoyed, but touch my jaw and tell me he loved me enough that he’d let it slide just this one time with a wink. I could have caught up on some shows. Our DVR was almost maxed out with stuff we promised we’d watch together, but we both knew it would never happen. Or maybe a hot bath… just me, some candles, soft music, let the day slip out of my mind.

  That’s what I should have done.

  But talking to Linda was just another part of my life and my routine. Walking across the plush grass of the front yard, I fought with the almost broken latch on her gate, wrestling with the opening until it popped free.Walking along the stone path until I saw her, where we’d look at each other and both smile.

  It was just normal.

  I was hidden away, and I was normal.

  One conversation with Linda, however, was going to change that.

  Linda lived in a big house that she’d inherited from her grandmother. She fought hard and spent a lot of money during her divorce to keep the house. I wasn’t in the neighborhood when all of that happened, but I was given the full story, many times over. Besides Linda’s heavily biased feelings towards her ex, I saw plenty firsthand. They had a daughter named Paige, who was the spitting image of Linda. She was six years old. Sometimes I’d catch sight of her and it would catch me completely off guard and steal my breath. It would knock me back to a place in my memory that was dangerous to be in. I’d have to quickly slap myself and remind myself of the life I had now. The reason why I lived where I did and that I had my dream job, my dream home, my dream man. That life was good.

  For Linda, being a single mother was hard. And Paige’s father didn’t help that by being what the definition of a deadbeat looked like. Which meant a lot of questions and heartache from
Paige, and Linda trying to work full-time, take care of Paige, and keep up with the house. I wasn’t sure how she did it all. Sometimes, I was in awe of her capability to be so strong and still smile.

  “Hey, neighbor,” I said.

  Linda sat on the edge of a black chair that matched the rest of her patio set. She leaned forward with the butt of a lipstick-stained cigarette an inch from her lips. When she looked at me, she hurried to stand up. She dropped the cigarette and stepped on it.

  “You smelled it,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry, Kinsley.”

  “For what? You’re allowed to smoke. It’s not a crime.”

  “It bothers you.”

  “No. It’s a signal that you’re home.”

  “We have phones for that,” Linda said. “You can text me. I can text you.”

  “True. But smoke signals are cool. Like we live in our own little world back here, right?”

  Linda laughed. “You’re home early, huh?”

  “Yeah, I got done with all my appointments and called it a day.”

  “Get anything interesting?” she asked.

  I ran my own small veterinarian practice. And somewhere in Linda’s mind, she waited for the day I could tell her a story about a snake or spider, or someone bringing in an eight-foot alligator that wasn’t feeling well. That was highly unlikely in our little town of Hoyersvile. It was mainly cats and dogs, with the occasional rabbit. The only surprise I’ve ever had to deal with was a macaw parrot who swallowed a bunch of newspaper one time.