Love Finds You at Home for Christmas by Annalisa Daughety

And I’ve made some great friends here.
    I still see Cliff regularly. We went to a Razorback football game a couple of weeks ago, and it was such fun to see the crowd and the team.
    I’m going to tell you something in confidence now, so please tear this letter up once you’ve read it. After the game, we went for a walk in the woods. While we were there, he kissed me. Really kissed me.
    Now you know I don’t go around kissing boys for sport, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but I think it was pretty good. In fact, it might be the most wonderful moment of my life. He tasted like peppermint, and for a few minutes, I was afraid I was going to faint I was so lightheaded.
    When it was over, he just grinned, and we went back to his aunt’s house and drank Coca-Colas like nothing had happened.
    Oh, Lucille, I don’t know what to do now. He hasn’t come out and said he wants me to be his girl. He’s never said he loves me, and we don’t have any plans to see each other after I go back to school. And he hasn’t made a move to kiss me again, not even the other night at the drive-in.
    A few weeks ago I told him about Joseph, and I said I didn’t want to risk my heart again. He seemed okay with it. So why would he kiss me? Sometimes I wish I knew what he was thinking. My job came with a handbook, and I’m beginning to think Cliff should’ve come with a handbook too!
    Oh well. I supposed we’ll work it out. My time here is getting shorter, and I guess it would be silly to get any more involved with someone when I know there’s no future. Maybe he isn’t kissing me because saying good-bye is already going to be hard enough.
    I’ll be glad to see you at Christmas—only a couple of months to go! It will be nice to see everyone, but I’ll be sad when my time here comes to an end.
    Much love,
    Ruby Jean
    * * * * *
    Ruby sat in the dorm lobby, wondering why Cliff was running late. It wasn’t like him. She pulled Mama’s latest letter out of her purse and scanned over it to make sure she hadn’t missed any news from home. It had been a while since they’d heard from Raymond, but sometimes no news was good news. Papa had written a note on the letter that said he was glad Ruby had made it to a football game. Lucille must have shared the news of the game with them, because Ruby didn’t recall putting that in the last letter she’d sent her folks. She wondered what else Lucille had shared. Surely she hadn’t told Mama about Ruby and Cliff’s kiss.
    â€œEverything okay?” Lola asked, coming through the door. “Why are you sitting here all alone?”
    Ruby grinned. “I’m waiting for Cliff.” She held up the crumpled letter. “And re-reading the letter I got from home today.”
    Lola plopped down beside her. “Anything interesting?” She grinned. “I hope they’re telling you not to bother going back to school and they think you should just stay here.”
    â€œNot quite.” Ruby was really going to miss Lola once she was back at school. “You’ll have to come visit me some weekend. It’s an easy bus ride. You can stay with me in the dorm.”
    Lola raised her eyebrows. “Or I can get a ride with Cliff. I’m sure he’ll be making the drive as often as possible.”
    Ruby didn’t answer. She still felt confused by Cliff’s nonchalance about their kiss. On the one hand, it made things much easier for her. But on the other, she had to wonder if he hadn’t liked kissing her. Or maybe he kissed lots of girls, and their kiss didn’t mean anything special to him. “I’m not sure that we’ll keep seeing each other after Christmas.”
    Lola rolled her eyes. “If you say so.” She grinned broadly. “Guess what? Harold says he has a big surprise for me. We’re having a special date on Friday night. Do you mind if I