2015 Goodreads Choice Award Semi-Finalist: Best Debut Author for The Mason List
An epic love. An epic hate. An epic story that would last a lifetime.
Today, 8:15 p.m.
I hurt. I hurt so deeply, I felt the pain searing in my bones and jabbing like a hot poker into my heart. I knew nothing would make it better as the memories pulled from the crevices of my mind, detailing the bad and the ugly, filling my thoughts with regret as I slipped into the darkness. . .When I was eight, my mother was dying of cancer, my father lost his job, and the bank kicked us out of our house. I was forced to move to the strange town of Arlis, Texas where my father and I slept in our car in the hospital parking lot. Desperate and hopeless, we lived on fumes of our former life.
Then one night, everything changed forever. A knock on the car window brought a family into my life that I only wanted to shut out. I hated charity and I hated the Masons. Well, except one. He made it impossible to hate him.
Jess Mason had the biggest blue eyes and ornery smile of any boy I had ever seen. He was a ray of sunshine in my dark world. A boy full of adventure, dragging me across the meadow of Sprayberry Ranch; a beautiful Texas paradise full of horses and tree houses that got us into more trouble than anyone ever imagined.
Jess was my everything as a kid until we grew up and the rules changed. Instead of living happily ever after with a boy full of love. . . I destroyed it.
– Alex TannerAuthor Note: The Mason List is a coming-of-age story that follows the life of Alex Tanner from the age of six to twenty-six. The novel crosses the genres of Young Adult and New Adult. The Mason List is a standalone, 118,940 word, full-length novel.
Oh goodness…Jess just killed me with his note!
Keep reading to see the full Love Note!
Alex,
It’s February now. You’ve been gone almost eight months. And this is the eighth letter I’ve written to you. But like the others, we both know that I ain’t ever gonna send it.
I made you a promise when you left. And I plan on keeping it. I won’t interfere in what you gotta do. But it don’t make me miss you any less. And tonight I miss you more than most.
Sprayberry is everything to me. I live and breathe it. When things don’t go right, I feel it in my bones. And the fear of failure haunts me. I can’t screw this up. Frank trusted me. And the last thing I need is Frank’s pissed off ghost haunting me.
You can laugh at that one, Alex. At least I hope you would. I need to hear your laughter tonight.
Sprayberry is you too. But you’re not here. Sometimes it’s just so damn hard trying to do it alone. I almost called you tonight. I just wanted to hear your voice. That sarcastic sweetness you like to fling at me. And the way you get quiet at the end of the call and whisper my name as you say goodnight.
But I stopped myself. I think tonight would have been too much. I would’ve begged you to come back. So I drove out to Nichol Bridge instead of calling you. And I’ve just been sitting here. The sky is pitch black. Not much moon. Almost like the night we came out here and wrecked the Jeep.
You remember that night? It feels like a lifetime ago. We were just kids. Me driving you crazy with the fireworks. You driving me crazy with that smile. I wanted to kiss you that night. I was falling for my best friend and you didn’t have a clue. But none of that mattered.
Everything was simple back then. Before we got older. And everything got so damn complicated. Maybe the past few years would’ve been different if I had just kissed you sooner. Or maybe you would’ve punched me in the nose right here on this bridge.
I’m gonna pretend you’re laughing at that one too. ‘Cause that’s how I want to imagine you tonight. Sitting somewhere with your pretty orange hair blowing in the wind and laughing with me. Instead of me missing you.
Alexandra Tanner. You’re the most fascinating and frustrating person I’ve ever met. And I’m never gonna give up hope. I know one day you’ll come back home to me. And I’ll be right here waiting for you.
-Jess
SD Hendrickson received a Bachelor’s of Science in Journalism from Oklahoma State University. The Mason List was her first novel and it was a 2015 Goodreads Choice Award Semi-Finalist for Best Debut Author.
S.D. Hendrickson lives in Tulsa with her husband and their two schnauzers. She loves chocolate, romance books, Oklahoma State Cowboys, music, Lost, chocolate, beaches, coffee, cooking, beautiful sunsets, Friends, chocolate, sad puppy stories, dreaming of Australia, guacamole, quotes, Netflixs bing watching, Dawson’s Creek, chocolate, hot tubs, exotic animal rescues, going on vacation, Friday Night Lights, writing, and of course, chocolate.
Visit www.sdhendrickson.com for more information on upcoming projects.
