11. Eleven
11
ELEVEN
“W alk us out, son,” Dad prodded once the night wore down. He was familiar with the casino, so he didn’t need an escort. No, he wanted to have a conversation.
I cast a quick look toward Ruby to see if she was okay with me leaving and found her glaring at her father, who was still acting weepy, from across the kitchen island. “Just one second.” I flashed a smile toward my parents—it was brimming with resignation more than merriment—and then crossed to her. “Um … my parents want me to walk them out.”
Ruby, who was making a series of faces trying to get a different reaction out of her father, turned her full attention to me. “That doesn’t sound good,” she mused.
“I’m sure it will be fine.” Unlike her parents, my parents weren’t the type to melt down. No, their way was quiet disappointment. That was somehow worse. “They just want to tell me how I could’ve been a better man and stepped up to the plate when you first told me.”
Ruby made a protesting sound. “Don’t beat yourself up. I told you I wanted you to think. I wouldn’t have accepted any decision you told me that day regardless.”
I considered it. “Really?” I sounded a little too hopeful for my comfort level, but I needed to hear her answer.
“Really,” she confirmed. “Don’t let your parents get you down. You did exactly what I wanted, and you have nothing to be sorry about.”
She was so sincere, all I could manage was a head bob. “Thank you, Ruby.”
“You’re welcome.” Her smile was as bright as the sun. “Don’t you feel better about telling everybody? I mean … even my father knows.” Her eyes slitted as she looked back at him. “It’s turned him into some sort of freak.”
I wanted to laugh—Ruby’s distrust of her father was hilarious after all—but I held it together. “I’ll be back to make sure he doesn’t try to hang around past his welcome window.”
“Oh, I can take care of him.” Ruby was grim and determined.
“I’ll be back,” I insisted firmly. I wasn’t messing around. “Just … try not do anything crazy to your father until I get back, huh?”
“I’ll be fine.” Her smile was small but sweet. “As for your parents, don’t let them get a foothold in the argument. Take the offensive right from the start.”
“Is that what you do?”
She nodded. “If I always have control of the conversation then they can never get solid footing. It’s a tried-and-true practice for a reason.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
MY PARENTS DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING for the ride down in the elevator. They waited until we got to the parking garage, which was a deliberate choice on their part.
“So … you’re going to be a father, huh?” Dad’s expression was impossible to read. The way he looked me up and down made me feel itchy.
“I guess I am.” Now that I’d had a bit of time to sit with the information, the panic had eased. Some. I was still frightened—who thought it was a good idea to allow Ruby and me to try keeping a human being alive for crying out loud?—but the baby wasn’t what was fueling it. No, it was the practicalities freaking me out now.
“Were you really considering not taking responsibility?” My father’s tone was grave.
I hated disappointing him, but this was about more than that. “No. It wouldn’t have mattered if I’d immediately gotten it together anyway. Ruby demanded that I think about it. She didn’t want any nonsense.”
“Do you blame her?” Mom asked. “I mean … going in and out of a child’s life is not a good thing.”
“I was never going to do that.” I dragged a hand through my hair and sighed. “I was surprised when she told me. When it happened—the sex I mean—we both kind of brushed it off.”
“And why is that?” Mom acted as if she was a psychologist trying to get to the root of some deep-seated issue.
I shrugged. “I mean … she’s Zach’s sister.”
“And Zach is married to your sister.”
“Yes, which actually makes it weirder when you really think about it.”
Mom pursed her lips, considering, then nodded. “I guess I can kind of see that.”
“Besides, Ruby has always been self-sufficient. She cut herself off from actual relationships because of Ryder. We all know how I treat relationships. It was never even a consideration that it would be more than it was.”
“And yet you proposed,” Dad pointed out.
“Yes, but I only did that because I thought that’s what I should do.”
“Maybe it is what you should do.”
I would’ve been lying if I said that thought wasn’t still floating around inside my head. “Ruby thinks it will be better if we forge a strong friendship.”
“And what do you think?”
I shrugged. “I think, with everything that’s going on with the Stone family right now and this being so new, that maybe we should go with Ruby’s plan.” I had to think hard to come up with the right words. “Forcing a relationship when this is so new means that there will never be a chance down the line.”
“That’s smart.” Dad took me by surprise with his easygoing demeanor. “You’re right. This might not be the correct time to even try dating. A friendship is a good foundation, and if down the line you guys realize you’re more than friends, you’ll be in a better place to take advantage of the opening.”
“That’s the key word,” Mom interjected. “You guys need to talk about whatever it is you plan to do. You’ve seen what happens when you’re impulsive.”
My shoulders sank under the heavy weight of my mother’s stare. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Ruby was on the birth control shot. I still don’t know how this became a thing.”
Amusement had her lips curving. “What’s that movie you loved as a kid? Jurassic Park , right?”
I frowned. What did Jurassic Park have to do with my current predicament? We weren’t having a baby dinosaur. “Um…”
She laughed at my confusion, relieving a great deal of the tension that had been flying around the garage. “Life will find a way. That was the general gist of the conversation when they said all the dinosaurs were supposed to be female, right?”
“Oh.” I considered it. “That’s true.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dad insisted. “The baby is coming. Ruby seems excited about it.”
“Yeah. That took me by surprise, too.” I gnawed on my bottom lip. “She keeps saying she’s thirty-five and this might be her only shot. When she told me, she was pretty matter of fact about the whole thing. She knew what she was going to do, and she wanted me to decide what I was going to do.”
“Ruby has always had a good head on her shoulders,” Mom said. “They all have really. None of those girls do impulsive things. I would follow Ruby’s lead. Although … where is she going to live? You might need to consider getting a place close to wherever she settles so you can help with the baby.”
“She’s staying here. At least to start,” I added quickly when Mom frowned. “She wants a house eventually, but she says for the first year or so—maybe two years—the baby will be fine here. She doesn’t want to jump into anything without thinking it through.”
“See, that’s smart too.” Mom grinned. “I think she’ll be good for you in more ways than one.”
I wasn’t certain how to take that statement. “Um … what do you mean?”
“Ruby is a planner. You’re a flitter. You flit from one thing to the other. I thought, eventually, you would settle down. Now you’re not going to have a choice but to settle down.”
“I just told you that Ruby and I weren’t going to get involved,” I protested.
“Not that, although it might be time to give your dating preferences some thought.” Mom shook her head. “Ruby thinks things through. You should start doing the same. As you guys get into this and start figuring things out—from doctors’ appointments to living arrangements to shopping for things the baby needs—then I believe maturity will be part of the deal.” She glanced at Dad. “Or maybe I’m just hoping that.”
Dad chuckled. “He’ll be okay.” His smile warmed me. “Just … if you start panicking, don’t tell Ruby you’re panicking, okay? Come to us. We’ll talk you off the ledge.”
“You guys are being way more agreeable about this than I thought you would be,” I admitted.
Mom shrugged. “We always knew you would do something like this.”
“How did you know that?”
“It’s simply who you are.” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “We’ll expect regular updates. I’m going to get together with Cora and plan a shower for Ruby.”
“That’s her deal. I mean … showers are for women.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “I really hope you have a boy. Your antiquated views on women and relationships—something this town has unfortunately reinforced—will not be conducive to you being a good girl dad.”
I frowned. “I would be an excellent girl dad.”
“Yes, we’ll just see about that.”
I EXPECTED TO RETURN TO RUBY’S suite when my parents left. I wanted to make sure that Ryder wasn’t still hanging around being a general nuisance. Plus, well, I wanted to break things down with her and get her opinion on how things had gone. The second I saw Zach loitering by the elevators, I knew that plan was going to be delayed.
“Let me have it,” I said as I stepped up to him, bracing myself for the punch. “I deserve it.”
Zach didn’t start throwing wild haymakers. Instead, he narrowed his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
That was not the tack I expected him to take. “Oh, well … I don’t know.” I squirmed under his steady glare. “I was embarrassed … and worried … and scared to the point of leaving skid marks in my underwear.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “Thanks for that gross image.”
I laughed because I couldn’t help myself. “Sorry. I just … I was in shock when she told me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you guys hooked up after the engagement party?”
He had to be joking. “I should think that’s self-explanatory. Why didn’t you tell me when you started hooking up with my sister?”
“I didn’t want to tell you I had real feelings for Olivia because I knew it was going somewhere. Even if I didn’t know what the end destination was going to look like, I understood deep down that I wanted to keep her forever. Are you saying that’s what’s going on with my sister?”
I balked. “Of course not.” Even as I denied it, there was a small voice niggling in the back of my brain giving me doubts. Could Ruby and I be more? We’d always gotten along. She had an easygoing nature that I appreciated. She laughed easily, wasn’t high maintenance, and often teased me about my exploits. She never judged.
I swallowed hard. “Your sister and I got drunk and made a mistake,” I insisted. “Now we’re going to have to be parents together. She’s insistent that we be friends and nothing more. She believes it will be a healthier environment for the baby.”
“And what do you believe?”
“I believe that she’s smarter than me and I should do what she says.”
That nudged a small smile out of Zach. He was stern when he straightened, however. “Don’t hurt my sister. I know I don’t have any right to tell you what to do here because … well … I did the exact opposite of what I said I was going to do with your sister. This is different, though.”
“It’s way different,” I agreed.
“If you need help with something, tell me,” Zach urged. “If you have doubts, don’t lay them on Ruby. I’ll be your sounding board. She’s dealing with enough, especially now that my father is acting like a moron. I mean … did you see him?”
“You mean Pop-Pop?” I had to hold back a laugh. Then I remembered the way he’d barreled into Ruby’s room a few days before. “He seems insistent that Ruby is the one who is somehow going to help him take back the leadership reins. Do you have any idea why he would believe that?”
Zach shook his head. “No, but I’m not surprised. As the youngest girl, Ruby has always been the people pleaser in the group. It’s possible he believes she’s softer than the rest of us.”
“And being pregnant makes her vulnerable,” I said.
“I need you to watch her.” Zach was serious now. “If he tries to take advantage of her when she’s hopped up on hormones, I’m going to kill him.”
“Do you think that’s his move?”
“I don’t know. It’s impossible to tell with him. Whenever I think he can’t get any smarmier, he proves me wrong. It’s just … I don’t want to smother Ruby. She’s going to have to settle into things. You’re going to be spending a lot of time with her because I’m assuming you’ll be going to all the doctors’ appointments and helping her get the nursery ready.”
I nodded without hesitation. Ruby and I hadn’t talked about the nursery thing, but it was something I wanted to be involved in. “That’s the plan.”
“Just watch out for my father. If he thinks he can bully Ruby in her present condition, he won’t hesitate to do just that.”
“I’ll watch him.” I cracked my neck. “I’ll hurt him if he hurts her.”
“He’s up to something. We have to figure out what it is. We have to protect Ruby at the same time.”
“I’m onboard for that.”
“Good.” Zach planted his hands on his hips and ran his tongue over his lips. “I kind of feel like I should punch you for knocking up my sister. I mean … isn’t that in the friendship rule book somewhere?”
I smirked. “I kind of felt like I should punch you when I found out you were sleeping with my sister. What if we just call it a trade-off?”
“Fine, but I’m only agreeing because you’re bigger than me and the nature of your job suggests you can throw a better punch.”
I was amused despite myself. “Does this mean we’re okay?” I was honestly worried that our friendship would take a hit, and it was the last thing I wanted.
“We’re okay. I’ll probably complain about you to your sister for a few days—I’m sure she has some complaints too—and then I’ll be over it.”
“Livvie has already lodged her complaints with me. She did it the day Ruby found out she was pregnant.”
Confusion knit Zach’s eyebrows together. “What?”
I recognized my mistake when it was too late to take it back. “Oh, um … she somehow knew it was me. She said she saw us leaving the engagement party together. I begged her not to tell you,” I added quickly, although that wasn’t entirely true. “She agreed, but only because she wanted to give me a few days to get my head together and she was afraid you would scramble my brain with your fist.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “She knew and didn’t tell me?”
The last thing I wanted was to cause problems in my sister’s marriage. “Dude, don’t give her grief over it. I was a mess. She was angry—like really, really angry—but she agreed to not say anything for a few days. If I didn’t get it together and tell you myself, she was going to handle it for me.”
Zach didn’t look convinced. He also wasn’t as angry as I expected. “It’s fine.” He smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you going to fight with her?” I was legitimately afraid.
“I’m going to fake fight with her so she offers a massage and then I’m going to make up with her.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I like to fake fight with your sister. She has good energy when she’s annoyed.”
“See, now I want to punch you.”
He laughed. “Let’s not push things, huh?” He clapped my shoulder. “Just remember what I said about my father.” He started to turn away, then stopped himself. “Oh, and congratulations. I’m looking forward to being an uncle.”
I watched him go, dumbfounded. That had gone way better than I anticipated.
By the time I got back up to Ruby’s suite, she looked exhausted.
“Are you okay?” I glanced around, making sure Ryder wasn’t loitering. “Did you have to kick your father out?”
“Yes, and he wasn’t happy.” She flopped on the couch and held up a plate of cupcakes. “I managed to save some. Claire was mowing through them so fast I had to hide a plate.”
“Those are pretty good,” I acknowledged. “I happen to love red velvet cupcakes.”
“Me too.” She grabbed one of the ornately decorated cupcakes. “Do you want to eat a few with me, watch a movie, and start coming up with lists?”
“Lists?”
“I like lists, Rex. Don’t give me grief about it. My lists are going to save us.”
I didn’t argue with her. Instead, I sat on the couch—making sure I was far enough away not to touch her but not so far away it was weird—and grabbed one of the cupcakes. “What movie are we going to watch?”
“I’m in the mood for bloodshed. How do you feel about the new Alien movie? I heard it’s supposed to be fairly good.”
I grinned. “I like that you’re not a chick flick girl.”
“Oh, I like chick flicks. After spending time with my father, I need something brimming with carnage. He drives me crazy.”
“I can deal with an Alien movie.” I slid my gaze to her. “How are you feeling otherwise?”
“I’m a work in progress. How about you?”
“Same.”
“It went okay, though, don’t you think?”
“It honestly went way better than I thought it would.”
“Yeah. Maybe it will be smooth sailing from here on out.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t going to hold my breath, though.