Christmas at Ruby's: The Ruby's Place Christmas Collection, #1

By Holly Schindler

~ Holly Schindler is a critically acclaimed author: Starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, silver medal recipient in Foreword INDIES Book of the Year, IPPY Awards gold medal winner. ~

 

Christmas at Ruby's is a novella that inspired an ongoing holiday series.

 

Welcome to Ruby's, where the Christmas spirit is alive and well.

 

Ruby's Place (the classy family-friendly nightspot that once lit the night sky in the tiny fictional town of Sullivan, Missouri) is no more—closed for decades—but that doesn't keep those who once shared an eggnog or plate of homemade marshmallows from remembering the tinsel-wrapped moments Ruby's supplied come Christmas.

On a snowy holiday evening, feeling a bit down on her luck, a middle-aged Angela finds herself back at Ruby's, staring through its foggy, grimy window to remember the Christmases she spent there with her favorite aunt as a child. Could the best Christmas present of all simply be spending one last moment with that special loved one, in a place where memories were born?

At Ruby's, it seems, the "spirits" are not confined to just the dusty liquors behind the bar, and such a Christmas wish might not be made in vain.

The Ruby's Place Christmas Collection books in order:

Christmas at Ruby's
I Remember You
Sentimental Journey
The Gift That Is Ruby's Place

• Language: English
• Publisher: InToto Books
• Release date: Jun 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201683672

Holly Schindler

I'm a critically acclaimed and award winning hybrid author for readers of all ages--both the young in years and the young at heart. My work has received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, appeared on Booklist’s Best First Novels for Youth, PW Picks, School Library Journal’s What’s Hot in YA, and B&N’s 2016 YA Books with Irresistible Concepts and Most Anticipated May 2016 YA Books. My YA work has also won a Silver Medal in ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year and a Gold Medal in the IPPY Awards. My MG work is critically acclaimed as well, having made the master lists for several state readers’ awards, including this year’s Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award and Missouri’s Mark Twain Readers Award, and has been chosen for inclusion in the Scholastic Book Fair.

Book preview

Christmas at Ruby’s

Holly Schindler

Christmas at Ruby’s

Published by Holly Schindler, LLC

Copyright © 2017 by Holly Schindler

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design and internal formatting by Holly Schindler

Cover image by Shyvoronkova Kateryna, courtesy of Shutterstock

All Formal font by Kestrel Montes and The Paragraph Script font by littlebigcrafter, both courtesy of Etsy

May the

Christmas spirit

be with you

this

and every

year...

~One~

1973

Imagining Christmas without Ruby’s Place would be a hard if not utterly impossible task for any of the nearly twenty thousand residents of Sullivan, Missouri. But it would be a particularly hard undertaking for little eight-year-old Angela.

In truth, it would be difficult for anyone to imagine any season without Ruby’s, a tiny hole-in-the-wall pub that had opened during the era of red lipstick, big band music, and mandatory men’s fedoras worn at a slant over one eye. Nestled between the protective stone shoulders of two neighboring storefronts, Ruby’s had never, not once in its entire multi-decade tenure, been associated with adjectives long used to describe most bars: dark, dank. The close-knit, quaint small town of Sullivan never would have allowed anything remotely rough or seedy—the typical site for hustlers’ pool table bets and quick pickup-line love—to take root within its borders.

Yes, rather than a refuge for any lost soul seeking to escape life’s disappointments or dilemmas, Ruby’s was elegant, akin to the New York supper clubs that had been fashionable when the pub first opened its doors. Crystal chandeliers bathed patrons in soft, warm light as they dined and danced entire nights away before scurrying off to sleep or work in any of the nearby buildings. Starched linen tablecloths and small bouquets in silver bud vases offered a tasteful repeating pattern throughout the room. Ruby’s retained a timeless and important air, as though it could have been the same upscale establishment featured in Casablanca. Why, any moment, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman could step through the front door, piano music signaling their arrival.

All year long, Ruby’s was given the good china treatment by the people of Sullivan—used by all to celebrate births and weddings, promotions and triumphs. Shortly after Thanksgiving, though, Ruby’s began to flicker with a warmer glow, spilling from the spotless front windows to thaw the winter sky and stain the nearby street a golden yellow.

During the holiday season, Ruby’s shifted from being merely chic and refined to being something—well—something almost magical. And that meant that during the holidays, Ruby’s was also irresistible.

To everyone.

But especially to Angela.

It was, in fact, what she looked forward to the most as the days grew shorter and the threat of snow drew shivers. Angela anticipated her visits to Ruby’s even more than she had ever anxiously counted down the days to a visit from Santa. The sight of her favorite aunt’s giant Lincoln swerving into the driveway, coming to pick her up for their annual girls’ night out, brought squeals the likes of which no shiny, wrapped present in a box ever could. Those nights with Aunt Elizabeth transformed Angela, making her feel far more polished and cultured and far less like a bumbling little girl.

In Angela’s eyes, her Aunt Elizabeth was a spectacular old-time movie star of a woman, as beautiful and engaging as Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. The kind of woman she had only ever seen on the silver screen of the movie house that ran classic black and whites on Sundays. Just being next to Elizabeth, the smell of her