Pretty Paper

A Ruby's Place Novelette

Vic is perfectly content to spend the rest of eternity busking the streets of Echo Falls, a small town filled with people who, like Vic, have already passed away. A city of walking memories, or so they call themselves. That is, until a wish shows up in his guitar case, summoning him back to the land of the living. Or, more accurately, Ruby's Place, a magical supper club in Sullivan, Missouri. A club once owned by Vic's biggest what-if: Ruby herself, a love that he'd been too cautious to claim.

Vic knows that traveling to Sullivan could actually be the end of everything: of music, of his existence in Echo Falls…of himself, even. Who could possibly be wishing for him after all this time? Does he risk everything to find out if Ruby is still behind the bar in her old club? Is he foolish to even dream that there could be a second chance? Could a man ever go back, retrace his steps, zig instead of zag?

Could Vic pick up his guitar and finally finish the end of his abandoned melody? Would Ruby be there to listen?