Free The Red Fox: A Romance by Kim Hunter

She cried for a long time while he sat and comforted her. After some time, Leaf said, “She had a heart condition. That's how she died.”
    Jay bent down and kissed the top of her head softly.
    “ I'm sorry.”
    “ Me too. When she died everything in my life changed.” Leaf pulled herself up to eye level with Jay. He moved his hand from around her shoulder, lowering it til he held her around her waist. She tucked herself in tighter next to him. “I still have a promise I made her all those years ago, and it's the only reason I'm still here—I want to tell you about it, because I know now that you're a part of the story.”
    Jay smiled and allowed her to keep sharing.
    “ She had no money. Her medication took most of her welfare check, and there was nothing new in our house. I was too young to care. I had my Nanna, and that was enough. I didn't even know clothes could be new.” She laughed. “The first time I ever had anything new to wear was the day I first started school. I woke up and on my bed was a new dress, new socks, and new shoes from Dacy's. That's the most expensive clothing boutique in town. Only the rich shop there, but somehow my Nanna had managed to dress me in the best for my first day of school. On the floor was a new bag full of new books, a new ruler, and a new pencil. I was so excited, I ran down and hugged my Nanna's legs. It was the only time I ever saw her cry. She took me back to my room and helped me get dressed. Before I left the house that day she said to me, ' I've done all I can to make sure you start school well, now promise me you'll do all you can to finish well.' I promised her I would.
    “ Every year that followed, when I woke on the first day of school, there was a new dress, new socks and new shoes from Dacy's. She'd help me get dressed, and say the same thing to me, and I'd make her the same promise.”
    Leaf turned back to Jay.
    “ She died when I was eight. I found out later she had stopped buying her medication at the same time I started school. She saved all year for those clothes.”
    “ Oh, Leaf, I'm so sorry,” Jay said.
    “ Nanna's the only reason I'm still here. Despite what people say about me, despite my own mistakes and weaknesses, despite wanting to give up each day, I'm still here—because she believed in me.”
    She turned and looked at Jay.
    “ I never met anyone who believed in me like that again, not until I met you. You're the only one who saw more than my pretty face and my easy reputation. You're the only one who believed in what you saw in me rather than what you'd heard about me. You're the only one who's made me believe my past really doesn't dictate my future.”
    She pulled herself closer, putting her arms around him, too. They were locked together, holding one another as close as they could. Their noses were touching and their eyes were locked, just as they were when they'd first met.
    “ You talk about being a coward, but you're the bravest person I've met. Everyone expects me to fail, wants me to fail, except you. You want me to see my inner beauty, because that's what you see in me. Well, I want you to see your courage, because that's what I see in you. You think you're a coward because you were bullied and you ran away. But you're not . You see the artist in you, and you live by that. But, there's a man of courage in you, too. If you can't see him right now, you need to look harder, because I see him—I see you . There's something in you that takes more courage than standing up to bullies. There's something inside of you that takes more courage than anything else in this world. It's the courage to search inside yourself, to be true to yourself, to discover yourself. Only the truly brave dare to do such a thing, and you don't even realize it. You can't see how much courage it takes to live like you live, to be who you are.”
    She fell silent and gave her words space to settle in his heart. She waited and let him look inside; to see how he