Ruby's Choice (Ditch Lane Diaries Book 1) Read online

  Ditch Lane Diaries:

  Ruby’s Choice

  by

  D. F. Jones

  Ruby’s Choice

  Copyright © 2014, D.F. Jones, all rights reserved.

  I S B N : 978-0-9861227-3-6 ebook

  I S B N : 978-0-9861227-4-3 paperback

  Notes:

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, including, but not limited to, any electronic forms, and information or storage systems without the explicit written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is completely coincidental.

  Cover design by Jones Media art director Amanda Northcutt. Photo of the image is leased through Istock.com

  Digital formatting by Author E.M.S.

  Dedication

  To my wonderful husband and best friend, KJ

  Acknowledgements

  I am forever in debt to those family and friends who have supported my endeavor to write Ruby’s Choice. My husband, for enduring my endless obsession with writing Ruby’s Choice, the first book of the Ditch Lane Diaries series. He has always supported and encouraged me. My sons, for always showing their mom love and respect while offering their encouragement and input. Thank you to my parents. My dad has always been the consummate storyteller. My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader and a hopeless romantic.

  Thank you to my bestie, Denise. She has been my sounding board from the inception of this project. She offered ideas, suggestions and was one of the first to read Ruby’s Choice. Thank you to all of my Beta Readers: Erin, Doris, Sherrie, Bettina, Debby, your comments and insights were so valuable to me.

  I want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to my editor, Emme Adams. She rocks! She took on my project and worked diligently to help me find my voice. I have grown as a writer because of her patience and efforts. Her guidance and insight continue to be invaluable to me.

  I would like to give a huge shout out to Amanda, my creative director. She designed the book cover and my marketing materials. She is absolutely wonderful at making my projects look great! Thanks to Tiffany for the initial copy editing.

  And lastly, to my readers: Thank you for following my updates on social media! You were all so positive, encouraging and patient during my writing journey. This book is for you! I trust you will love Ruby’s Choice and follow me with the upcoming books in the Ditch Lane Diaries.

  Fun Fact: Chapter Titles Are Songs from the 1970’s enjoy!

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 – Dream Weaver

  Chapter 2 – Hot Fun In The Summer Time

  Chapter 3 – Knock It Out Of The Park

  Chapter 4 – Stuck In The Middle With You

  Chapter 5 – Rock The Boat

  Chapter 6 – If I Were Your Woman

  Chapter 7 – Take It To The Limit

  Chapter 8 – Strange Magic

  Chapter 9 – Tonight’s The Night

  Chapter 10 – Boogie Nights

  Chapter 11 – Get Away

  Chapter 12 – Oh Girl

  Chapter 13 – Show Me The Way

  Chapter 14 – Dancing In The Moonlight

  Epilogue – Simple Twist of Fate

  About the Author

  The Ditch Lane Diaries

  Prologue

  Campbell Ridge Cave 1972

  Ruby, Anna and Sandy had their backpacks filled with water, extra flashlights and batteries for spelunking the cave on Campbell Ridge. Ruby had discovered the entrance of the cave with her brother, George, five years ago, when they were looking for Indian arrowheads. George had told her never under any circumstances to go inside of the cave. But today, Ruby and her best friends, Anna and Sandy, were looking for new adventures.

  The girls were deep inside the cave, surrounded by complete darkness with only their flashlights to illuminate the interior walls. The limestone cave had beautiful rock formations, crystals and stalactites. The cave underground had seemed alien, almost unworldly. The air smelled of the dank earth, and the only sound was running water from the stream that ran through the cave.

  Ruby was forced to climb over a boulder on her belly to squeeze through a narrow pass. The boulder opened up into a hidden room. Ruby was still hanging onto the rock when she yelled back at the girls, “Hey, guys, you have to see this!” And then she slid down the rock into the room.

  Anna and Sandy scrambled up and over the boulder, shining their lights into the hidden room. Anna slid down the boulder and entered with Sandy right behind her. The hidden room was roughly the size of a bedroom. “Holy cow, there are ancient drawing’s on the wall.”

  Thousands of years of groundwater had caused the rocks on one side of the cave to drop down forming large stalactites the size of a pickup truck. The large drawings revealed intricate details of each person etched in the stone wall. Sandy inspected the drawings closer as she walked down the length of the wall. “It’s a story. I read about ancient drawings like these in one of my National Geographic magazines. This is far out.”

  Ruby tripped over a small rock, dropping her flashlight. The light on the ground lit the far left corner, revealing a massive figure carved in the stone. “Geez Louise! This dude looks like a freaking astronaut. Look at his helmet!”

  Anna bumped into Ruby, nearly making them both fall down. She held onto Ruby’s shoulder and said, “That’s some spooky shit.”

  Anna walked past Sandy to the next group of drawings. “Here’s the same dude again. He’s holding a totem and there are three people kneeling before him. This looks like a ritual or rite of passage.”

  Sandy sat down on a rock, mesmerized by what they had discovered. She flashed her light toward Ruby and Anna as they traced their fingers over the different drawings. Sandy asked, “Do you think we should tell our parents or teachers?”

  Anna and Ruby walked over to sit on the ground next to Sandy. Ruby’s light fused with Sandy’s as Anna’s light circled around to the other parts of the room. There was only one wall dedicated to the drawings. Anna replied, “I don’t think so. A tribe sealed this room for some reason. We should leave. I’ve got a weird feeling, like we’re being watched.”

  Sandy stood, tipping over the rock she had been sitting on, causing her flashlight to point downward. “Hey, look, something’s under this rock. Bring your lights over here.” Anna and Sandy shined their lights over the place where the rock had been, as Ruby knelt down, reached in and pulled out the object.

  The girls plopped back down on the hard ground, staring wide-eyed at the totem. Ruby’s voice trembled. “It’s the totem in the drawing, the same one the deity is handing over to the people kneeling on the ground. I know this sounds weird, but this thing is pulsing in my hands.”

  Sandy reached over to pluck the totem out of Ruby’s hand. The totem was around six inches tall, made out of crystal and quartz with piercing sapphire eyes. The detailed carvings made the image of the face appear real, smooth as glass to the touch, as though sculpted by a master artisan, and no matter which way they turned the totem, it seemed to be watching them. “It’s a smaller version of the big guy in the corner. He is looking at me.”

  Sandy handed the totem to Anna, who turned it over in her hands. “I see what you mean. This little dude is shooting energy to my fingertips. We need to place this thing back where we found it and get the hell out of Dodge. I have the creeps in here.”

  Ruby took the totem and put it back in the hole. In another part of the cave, Ruby cou
ld hear rocks falling. “We need to get out of here because the cave is shifting.” The girls rolled the boulder back in place and made a hasty exit.

  Outside in the daylight, they sat on a rock ledge, out of breath and speechless. Ruby opened her backpack and pulled out an amber-encased spider web. “Well, shut the front door, what the heck? Look y’all, it’s a spider web inside a piece of amber?”

  Anna found an amethyst stone in her pocket, and Sandy opened her thermos finding a hiddenite stone. Anna shook her head in bewilderment. “Well, I’m pretty sure these stones weren’t with us before we went inside the cave. If I wasn’t so dad blame scared, I’d take this back inside the cave, right now.”

  Sandy stared at her stone and then spoke quietly. “I don’t want to spook you any further, but holding this stone gave me a vision of the deity who gave us the stones. In the vision, he is relaying that we’re to keep the stones on our person at all times. He will reveal to us in time what it means and we aren’t supposed to talk about this again until he reveals it to Ruby in a dream.”

  The girls looked at each other wide-eyed, holding their stones in eerie silence. They never uttered a single word about the totem or the stones again—until years later.

  Chapter 1

  Dream Weaver

  Everglade, Tennessee

  Summer 1977

  Ruby stocked the shelves for tomorrow’s store traffic. Summer always brought in an influx of tourists, along with the store regulars. Her workday was coming to a close, which meant it was time to party. As she stacked the last rows of Dove soap and Jergens body lotion, she began to daydream. She bit back a playful smile, recalling the delicious dream from the night before.

  In Ruby’s dream, she walked hand-in-hand with a stranger down a long sidewalk lined with pink dogwood trees in full bloom. The sun shone brightly as she looked up at him. She raised her hand, framing her eyes to deflect the sun so she could see his face more clearly. Her dream man turned and looked down at her with kind, expressive eyes and laughed. Ruby felt love; it surrounded and embraced her.

  The dream shifted as she followed him into a bedroom. The wall-to-wall bay window in the room overlooked the night lights of a city. Ruby stood only inches from him, not touching, but just looking into his eyes.

  The dream shifted again. The man had disappeared and Ruby turned around frantically looking for him. She found him sitting on the edge of the bed. Ruby trembled as she walked toward him. He reached for her.

  The edges of her dream blurred as purple, yellow and blue hues distorted in her vision, and he seemed to shimmer away. Ruby tried hard to zero in on his face, and then he reappeared, clear and in focus. She sat down beside him, and he reached up to run his finger across her bottom lip. He cradled her face with his hand, and then he leaned down slowly covering her mouth with his, as she circled her arms around his neck. His kiss was so soft and tender that it sent a wave of pleasure washing over her so acute her mind seemed to go blank. Ruby felt him smile against her lips, and then he pulled back slightly and adjusted his angle so he could nibble on her earlobe, sending shivers up her spine.

  Ruby ran her fingers over his shoulders and down his well-defined biceps, as she arched toward him. Every nerve ending in her sizzled, and she cried out to him, “I love you.” Red-hot sensations spread through her like wildfire in a parched forest.

  Ruby lay back on the bed, and his body rose over hers and then he pressed his face so close to hers, his lips barely brushed against her cheek. Mr. Dreamy traced his finger down her jawline and whispered, “I’m on fire for you and now you’re mine.”

  Snap out of it! Ruby quickly recovered from her daydreaming as she heard her boss call her name.

  Mr. Burns asked, “Ruby, honey, would you work the cash register for me so I can work on my books?”

  Ruby replied politely, “Yes, sir, Mr. Burns.”

  Mr. Burns had been teaching Ruby the art of running a small business since she was sixteen. She dreamed of owning her own grocery store, some day, and she had saved nearly five hundred dollars to use for start-up capital. She had a five-year plan from the time she graduated college in two years to the time she would open her doors.

  Everglade General Store had been in the Burns family for forty years. The wooden exterior of the old-fashioned store had been painted white, and the interior walls revealed exposed logs and wood beams. The store had been renovated several years ago, but Mr. Burns had purposely kept the interior the same to reflect the era when his father had built it in 1938. Several huge wicker ceiling fans hung overhead, and the checkout counter still had glass-encased bins for candy and treats.

  Ruby took off her apron and was making her way behind the counter when she saw the front door open and two guys stroll into the store. She was checking the guys out when the one on the left looked up and caught her staring.

  Holy smokes! It’s the guy in my dream!

  It always blew Ruby away whenever something from her dreams appeared in real life. Ever since she had found the piece of amber that day in the cave with Sandy and Anna, she’d had life-or-death dreams, and occasionally she would see glimpses into the future. Typically, her life dreams would foretell the birth of a child for a friend or relative, and then she would find out days after her dream, a friend or relative was pregnant.

  Ruby’s worst dreams were the ones about death. She hated those dreams. The first one had been about her Aunt Sammie. In Ruby’s dream, her aunt had been driving down the interstate and tried to miss debris from a jackknifed tractor-trailer. Her car had slammed into the guardrail. The dream shifted to the emergency room, where the family had decided not to continue life support. Thirty minutes after Ruby had woken from that awful dream she had received a phone call and learned her aunt had been in a terrible car accident. Ruby learned her aunt had indeed hit a tractor-trailer, but in reality the truck had crossed into her traffic lane. Ruby had rushed to the hospital, where the scene in the ER had unfolded just like the latter part of her dream—the family had pulled her aunt’s life support. To this day, Ruby hated having death dreams, but thankfully, they were few and far between.

  Occasionally, she would have a dream like the one she’d had last night that involved people she had never met before. The guy in her dream last night apparently was real. Watching her real-life dream man walk into the store sent chills straight up her arms.

  Ruby locked on his beautiful dark eyes, the color of espresso and framed with thick, luscious lashes. A fireball ripped through her as she ogled the dark-haired, warrior-like god who stood at least six feet tall. She could see his rippling muscles bursting through his tight, white T-shirt, which starkly contrasted with his suntan. He smiled at her with dazzling white teeth, and Ruby’s knees literally went weak.

  For crying out loud, she was acting like a lovesick fool, fidgeting back and forth, trying not to look directly at the guy. Dreamy’s head lifted and his eyes locked on hers again, sucking her in. She felt an instantaneous spark, a strange sort of electricity radiating from him to her. Only a moment had passed before she looked away, embarrassed for being caught gawking at him like he was a hot piece of Southern pecan pie and she hadn’t eaten for a month.

  And then, Ruby noticed the second guy. He had the most striking green eyes, jet-black hair, and lips that made her want to kiss them. She just didn’t see gorgeous guys like these two every day in Everglade.

  They were whispering to each other and chuckling as they walked past the counter. Ruby knew the blood must be rushing to her face. The two guys walked with such confidence, and they were so self-assured. Her gaze followed them to the refrigerated section in the back of the store. She watched them grab two Sundrop sodas and then head toward the candy aisle. When the guys walked toward the check-out, Ruby started straightening the items on the counter, trying to look busy. On the surface, she maintained a cool demeanor, but on the inside her nerves were bouncing off the walls.

  * * *

  Reed had driven out to Everglade with Brent to che
ck out the hot sister of George Glenn, the manager of their summer baseball team. George had invited Reed and Brent to a party tonight at Ditch Lane, a local hangout for college students. Since the season started, the guys on their baseball team had been talking about George’s little sister, and those who had been brave enough to ask her out had been shot down. Reed had always loved a challenge, though.

  Reed whispered to Brent, “Tap It! That little honey is going to be mine.”

  Brent chuckled, as he tried to push Reed out of the way for a better look at the girl behind the counter. “No way, dude. The game is on.”

  Reed and Brent had always competed against each other—from sports to women. Because they were always chasing the same women, during their freshman year at Middle Tennessee State University, they came up with a game called Tap It. In Tap It, they would choose one girl, and then they both dated her until she professed her undying love for either Brent or Reed. The winner of the game would get to date the girl exclusively while the loser had to pay the other one’s bar tab for a month.

  Reed and Brent walked to the front of the store and placed their sodas and candy on the counter. Reed hooked his thumbs in his blue-jean pockets as Brent rested his hand on top of the cash register. Both of the guys were checking out every inch of George’s little sister’s body.

  * * *