Chapter Seven
ELLIE
Ifelt more seen in the last few minutes than I had in my whole life.
“Thanks, Drew.” I slipped the small plain notebook and a pen out of my purse again.
While we chatted waiting for our food, I jotted down my observations.
I wrote about Matt and his surly attitude.
How the diner was a unique, gorgeous shade of turquoise, and all about the unusual signs posted throughout making me smile.
My favorite was “Please do not lick the walls.”
Did people really do that?
Though I noticed interest in his gaze, Drew didn’t ask again to see my book. And I wasn’t ready to share with him the contents nor why I had this little habit.
My family hated that I took notes wherever I went.
According to them, it was strange and embarrassing.
It seemed like Drew didn’t mind that I was jotting things down, but my gut still churned in anticipation of him changing his mind.
I kept expecting him to frown at me, or roll his eyes, or mutter about being lost in my writing.
It didn’t matter that logically I knew he wasn’t judging me.
The uncomfortable feelings that swept over me were ingrained from years of being told to stop.
And while I didn’t try to be obvious about what I was doing, I hated missing an opportunity to forget my first impressions. It was hands-on research.
Nora set our lunches on the table and I jerked back to attention. “So Drew, who do we have here?”
“This is my girlfriend, Ellie. She’s here for the week visiting. Ellie, this is Nora. She listens to our problems and offers advice we should, but don’t take. She’s the best server in town and has the most adorable four-year-old daughter.”
Nora looked to be a few years older than me and had a kind, if not tired, smile.
“Jenny’s adorable unless it’s bedtime, and don’t forget Rose, my soon-to-be teenager that acts like she’s eighteen instead of twelve.
” Her eyes softened when talking about her kids.
She turned to me. “Is this your first time in Ruby River, Ellie?”
I glanced at Drew, not sure what to say. We really needed to get our stories straight. “Drew and I’ve been doing the long-distance thing so it’s been nice to spend time together in person.”
“She also works for Kingsley Jewelry,” Drew explained.
“Is that how you met?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Hey, Nora. I could use a refill.” A customer called out for her, interrupting our conversation.
I wanted to sag in relief. I’d been so afraid I wouldn’t be able to answer a question she might ask and raise suspicions.
“Hold your horses! I’ll be right there.” She rolled her eyes playfully. “I hope I get the chance to chat with you more at another time. It was nice to meet you, Ellie.”
She seemed sweet and genuine, and I got the impression she meant the sentiment. That her offer of getting to know each other wasn’t just a false platitude or one said in passing.
“You, too.” I tucked into my food and groaned with the first bite. “Either this sandwich is amazing or I’m more hungry than I thought I’d be.”
Drew grinned. “Probably both.”
I finished chewing, and after looking around to make sure no other customers were super close, I leaned toward him, “We need to get our stories straight. And learn more about each other.” Even with all the personal details we’d shared, there was so much more I still didn’t know about him.
He set his burger down. “Agreed. Let’s start small and work our way up to the bigger things. And if a question is asked that we don’t want to answer … ”
“We’ll be honest.” I thought about it a little more. If we were going to make this work, we had to have clear communication parameters.
And romantic ones, Bad Eleanor taunted me.
Shut up, Bad Eleanor.
“And—” I added, “We tell each other if it’s something we never discuss or might discuss later.”
“I can agree to that.” He dipped his fry in ketchup. “What’s your favorite color?”
“That’s a tough one. Sometimes it changes based on my mood, but I’d say teal.” All colors were beautiful. It was too difficult to pick just one and stick with it. “Yours?”
“Emerald green.”
“Ooh, pretty. Favorite grade in school, and why?” When I daydreamed about my time with Drew, I’d always hoped it would be easy like this. And learning more about him was a fun bonus.
“Probably junior year of high school. Everything seemed to come together for me then. I was able to balance my schoolwork, play baseball, and I was president of my class. It was also the year I interned at Kingsley Jewelry and realized I wanted to work there one day.”
Well, that blew my return response out of the water.
“What about you?” Drew asked and popped the fry into his mouth.
“It’s silly.” I wanted to pass on this one, but also if we did that too often, then where would we be? Getting to know each was the whole point of this.
“Are you asking to invoke The Question Unanswered Clause, aka TQUC?” He teased gently.
“No.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s just not a big deal. It was fifth grade. My school had this contest where we created our own short story, typed it out, and made a book cover for it. That was the year I won first place.”
“That’s awesome. Why wouldn’t you want to share something like that?”
Heat bloomed on my cheeks, and raced down my neck. My family had said it wasn’t a real contest and likely didn’t have that many entries. I tried explaining that most of my grade had participated along with the rest of the school, but none of it mattered.
I shrugged. “It just didn’t seem all that important.
” I wasn’t ready to admit how my parents made me feel guilty for stealing attention from my sister after she’d finally recovered from her illness.
They were in the throes of doing all the things she’d missed out on and had little time for me.
I hated how jealous I’d been of her and I felt like a terrible sister because of it.
“I disagree. Maybe someday you’ll let me read it?” He seemed genuinely interested. But I was pretty positive that my fantasy story was likely only interesting to ten-year-olds.
“Maybe.” A warm fluttery feeling started behind my breastbone at the thought that he cared enough to ask. I couldn’t remember the last time I had someone in my life that wanted to share in what brought me joy. “Tell me about your family,” I asked.
While our relationship was fake, I loved the idea of getting to experience the normalness of his family, even for a short amount of time.
“I’m not sure where to start.” He took a sip of water.
“We’re close.” The guilty look he shot my way made me think that he already saw the discrepancies, too.
The sad part was that I hadn’t noticed how badly my family treated me until recently.
It was the real reason I left for Ruby River earlier than I’d planned.
“I’m excited to meet them. Your family seems pretty great.”
“They are. I mean we fight about typical stuff, but I always know they have my back. You met Glamma, my dad, and Wyatt. I have another brother, Marcus, and you’ve talked to my younger sister, Grace.”
He’d also mentioned them all in our emails, but I didn’t remind him about that.
When I was interviewing for the job as Drew’s assistant, I checked out the ‘About Us’ page on their website and had seen one large group shot of employees who worked for Kingsley Jewelry.
There was also a fascinating section about the Ruby River Legend and how the family honored it by creating ruby jewelry inspired by the piece from the story.
But what I loved most was the photo of the Kingsley kids, their parents, and their grandparents.
“That must have been tough for Grace growing up with three older brothers.”
Drew grinned. I loved watching how one corner of his mouth tipped up slightly more on one side. It was like this was his real, true, I’m happy smile. “Don’t let that fool you. She gave as good as she got.”
I didn’t doubt Grace was a spitfire from the conversations we’d had. “Okay so you’re the oldest … ” One more thing we had in common.
“Then Marc, Wyatt, and Grace. And a hundred cousins who live throughout the state.”
I giggled at his exaggeration. I had no idea what that was like. Both of my parents were only children. “Did any of you feel like you had to go into the family business?”
“Never. Mom and Dad were very clear that we could follow our own dreams, but that they’d love to work with us. And Dad keeps saying he’s going to retire, but he still comes to work every day.”
“So it’s just you and Grace working there?”
He nodded and waited to answer after chewing a bite of his burger. “Yeah, not including some cousins. Wyatt owns the tattoo shop and Marc owns the vet clinic in town.”
“And the family dinner that’s coming up … Is that standard?” I was incredibly intrigued by this concept of family togetherness, yet absolutely terrified at the same time.
What if they all hated me? What if Drew told them about the other night when we met?
They’d think I was a lunatic for sure.
“My parents try to host something every week. With all our work schedules, it can get tough for all of us to be there. You’re lucky this is one of those weeks.”
Lucky? The terror that had been a faint low hum now shot lightning bolts searing through my body. The sudden blanket of fear squeezed me like I was the meat in a tightly-wrapped burrito as I thought about having his whole family’s attention that night.
What if they found me lacking?
What if they didn’t think I was good enough for Drew even as a fake girlfriend?
What if …
As my thoughts spiraled, my breathing stuttered. Damn it, I needed to pull myself together before Drew noticed. I knew my voice lacked the enthusiasm I was going for, but I tried anyway. “Yay. I’ll get the full Kingsley treatment this week.”