Chapter 47
TYLER
“I haveto go to her. That’s all there is to it. I’ve waited long enough. She’s not coming back. If I want to make something happen, I’ve got to do it myself.”
Even though we’re on the phone, I can practically hear Rake rolling his eyes. He’s getting tired of hearing me talk about this. I’m getting tired of hearing me talk about it, too.
“Are you gonna do it during bye week?” Rake asks.
My intercom buzzes and I see it’s Ruby. Weird. She never just shows up at my place. I buzz her up.
“Hey man, my sister’s here so I gotta go in a sec. But I may be able to go next week. I’ll pretty much have to fly in and out, and I have to check in with Coach. I think we’re not supposed to leave the country during bye. Anyway, this is important Rake, so please listen. If I do end up going to see her, I’m relying on the element of surprise, so DO NOT mention this to your wife. Please.”
“Fine. Fine. Whatever. Personally, I think you should give her more space. According to what I’m hearing from Petal.”
“What? What is she telling you?”
Holy shit. She’s talking about me?
Leave it to Rake not to share that little detail.
“Petal says she’s busy getting settled into her nanny job and fitting in her French classes around that.”
“Dude, did she say whether she’s met a new guy? Because if she’s already met a new guy, I need to know this.”
“Tyler, I don’t know if she’s meeting guys over there. Petal didn’t say anything about that.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Thanks Rake. I gotta go. My sister’s here.”
Our call ends and I hustle for the door. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”
She brushes past me and heads straight for the kitchen.
“Well, aren’t you going to tell me?” I ask.
She reaches into my freezer and pulls out a bag of cookies. “I’ve been dying for some of Mom’s shortbread.”
“That’s why you came over? Just for cookies?”
She bites into a frozen cookie, and it crunches loudly in her mouth. I don’t know what it is about my family, but we all love frozen cookies.
“No,” she says, shoveling another one in. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t come all the way across town just for a cookie. I might, however, come all the way across town for my brother.”
I start to relax a little. If there was something serious going on, like something happened to Dad, she wouldn’t be so cavalier. Nor would she be bingeing on Mom’s best cookie recipe.
Right?
“Want something to drink with that Rubes? I think I have milk that’s not expired yet.”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” she says with a full mouth.
I pour us both a glass of milk and join her in using it to chase down a couple shortbread cookies.
Damn, these babies are good.
I shouldn’t be eating them. I try to avoid sugar during the season. But what the hell, I’ve been under a lot of stress.
“Where the hell is Lucy?” Ruby demands.
“What. What? You sound like I’m keeping her prisoner here or something.”
She sighs with great exasperation. “I know she’s not here, you idiot. I heard from Dad who heard from Rake and Jonas who heard from God knows who that the woman left the country. Like, poof! she’s gone. What the fuck, Ty? What did you do to her?”
My face gets hot. “What do you mean, what did I do to her? Why would you assume I did anything to her?”
Like I’m a freaking mass murderer or something.
“We had a misunderstanding,” I say.
Does she need to know everything?
“Liar! I know there’s more to it than a ‘little misunderstanding,’” she says, using air quotes.
God, I hate how everyone uses air quotes these days.
“Look, I might be young, and it’s true, I’ve not met the love of my life yet, so I’m no expert in all this stuff, but I’m not a total idiot. I do read romance novels, you know.”
Ruby has all my mom’s tattered old paperbacks. Maybe I should read one or two, see what I learn.
“Come into the living room, Rubes. I’ll tell you the whole story.”
She looks at me with suspicion, which is strange because we are always honest with each other.
We settle into the sofa. “First tell me,” I say, “why are you so worked up about this? Lucy’s the woman I was dating, not you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ty, I really like her. Dad really likes her. Everyone really likes her. She’s the first normal person you’ve ever brought around. I want to be friends with her. And now you drove her away.”
Impatience creeps up the back of my spine. I love my kid sister, but I have only so much patience.
Especially lately.
“Lucy and I each did something crappy to each other.”
She taps her fingers on my sofa, waiting for me to say more. I don’t.
“What did she do to you?” she blurts out.
Fuck. I really don’t need my little sister involved in this drama, but I guess I have no choice.
With all kinds of reservations because I am not at all proud of how things went down, I go through the whole sordid tale of Lucy’s book project, as well as my own dumb-ass move of betting against her.
Ruby looks me in disbelief, like I knew she would. “You made a bet with Rake and Jonas? Are you kidding? Those guys are such Neanderthals.”
“No they’re not, Lucy. The whole thing started as a joke, an immature joke, but still a joke among friends. We let it go too far. I never should have let the guys goad me into proving I could date a woman for ninety days. It was stupid and it hurt somebody. Somebody important. Somebody I probably didn’t deserve, anyway.”
It’s true.
She slaps my arm. Hard. “See, there you go! I’d like to know why you don’t think you deserve a nice, smart, pretty, emotionally-healthy woman? Why have you wasted so much time with, I don’t know, girls who just want you for your money and fame? You deserve better. And I wish you believed that.”
Her voice breaks, and my own throat chokes up.
“I… I appreciate that Rubes,” I say quietly.
How does a twenty-year-old kid see so much? When I was twenty, I had my head about as far up my ass as it could go. The world could burn down around me and I wouldn’t have noticed unless it affected me directly.
My father always says Ruby was born an old soul. I think I finally get what he means.
She takes my hand. “Ty, you’re my best friend. I want good things for you.”
Well, shit. Now my eyes are filling up too.
I clear my throat loudly and wipe my face with the sleeve of my T-shirt. “Wanna make some cookies? I just picked up some good butter. The kind Mom used to use.”
She smiles. “Yeah. Guess so. But can we try something new?”
New?
“What are you thinking?”
“Does Mom’s recipe box have anything for ginger cookies or something like that?” she asks.
“I don’t know. Let’s go look.”