Chapter 2 #2
“It’s true,” Milo added. “I’m sure you don’t believe me right now, since I’ve been lying a lot…
But I’m going to try to show you that I mean it.
I really feel bad about how all of this happened.
Especially since—” His voice caught, and he took a moment to clear it.
Ruby noticed that he was suddenly not able to look her in the eye.
“Especially since… what?” she asked.
He took his time.
“I just hate that this is the way you and Carrie met for the first time,” he said. “I wanted it to be… better. Perfect. Instead, I messed everything up, and now you’re both mad at me.”
“Well, you know what they say: the best way to bring advisories together is to give them a common enemy.”
He gawked at her. “Are you saying I’m the common enemy between the two of you? I don’t want that either.”
She laughed. “I was kidding… mostly. But I will say the fact that Carrie wasn’t on board with the plan of lying to me does work in her favor.
That’s really the point I’m trying to make.
As for us both being mad at you…” She shrugged.
“I won’t speak for your girlfriend, but I’m not as mad this morning as I was last night.
I’m more confused. And concerned. I really don’t like the way you’ve been behaving lately, and it’s worrying me how comfortable you seem to have gotten with lying to me. ”
“It’s not comfortable,” he argued, shaking his head aggressively. “I just told you how it kept me up all night. I don’t like lying to you at all.”
“Good,” she said with a single nod. She grabbed her coffee and donut and got to her feet. “If you are kept up again tonight, maybe you can use that time to think about how your actions might affect the people who care about you the most.”
This sentiment seemed to strike a chord with Milo, who sat further back in his chair and sighed.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk,” Ruby added. “But I think a little tough love might be in order.”
He laughed under his breath but said nothing else.
“Just think about what I said.”
After that, Ruby went to the bedroom to start getting ready for the day, and a few minutes later, she heard Carrie leave the other bedroom and head into the kitchen.
It only took the two lovebirds seconds before they were sharing loud, joyous laughter.
Despite her frustrations, hearing her son laugh so easily put a smile on Ruby’s face.
She was still worried about him, but at least his girlfriend seemed to genuinely make him happy.
He clearly had strong feelings for the girl, and as long as Carrie was telling the truth about not knowing Milo had lied to his mom, then Ruby decided she was probably going to like Carrie as well.
At least, that was how she felt up until two hours later, when she and Dominic were walking to the greenhouse to start taking down notes on what needed fixing, and he gave his two cents on the situation.
“So… You’re sure this Carrie girl isn’t somehow the reason that Milo is dropping out of school?”
Ruby’s head snapped to the side. “What? What makes you say that?”
“I just mean, do you know whether or not Carrie is still enrolled in school? That’s where they met, right? Is she still going, or did she drop out as well?”
“I… I think she’s still going.”
“You think so?” He raised a brow. “You didn’t ask?”
“Er, no.” She suddenly felt totally stupid.
How could she have asked so few questions about this person her only child was dating?
“I was—I was so flustered last night that I could hardly keep my thoughts straight, and then this morning, the two of them left for a walk before I was done getting ready. I talked to Milo a bit over coffee, but I didn’t really ask him about Carrie.
I was still just so confused about the situation, and the fact that I first thought she was the ghost of my great-grandmother didn’t make facing the girl any easier. ”
“Wait, what?” Dominic grinned. “You thought you saw a ghost?”
“No. I mean, yes. Sort of.”
“How does one ‘sort of’ see a ghost?”
“No, I meant I sort of thought I saw a ghost.”
“I’m still confused.”
She laughed, mostly at herself. “You would’ve thought the same exact thing if you were there last night.
I had just been reading entries from some of Edith’s old diaries, and she described this blue dress that was her favorite, and then I heard weird noises outside.
When I went to see what was happening, a pale woman in a blue dress ran by me!
Turns out, it was Carrie running around in her blue nightgown, but how could I not think that was Edith? ”
“Well, for starters, because I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts.”
“I don’t, but—” She clicked her tongue. “The dark has a way of playing tricks on you, okay? And since everyone has been telling me this place is haunted, it’s been on my mind.
I’ll admit in the light of day it seems absolutely absurd, but if you had been there, you would’ve been freaked out as well. ”
Dominic chuckled and put his hands in the air. “I never said it wouldn’t freak me out. Just that I probably wouldn’t have jumped to ghost as my first explanation.”
“That wasn’t my first explanation,” Ruby said.
“I honestly didn’t even let myself fully believe that it could’ve been a ghost until I was down in the creepy, dark basement all by myself.
That pushed me over the edge, okay? And I refuse to accept the idea that anyone else would’ve felt differently in that scenario.
Even the most logical person on earth would’ve at least been a little scared. ”
“Fair enough. I think you’re probably right about that. I guess I’m just trying to put myself in your shoes. I guess if I saw those things, I would probably think I was hallucinating.”
“Trust me, the thought crossed my mind. That was one of the only other explanations I could think of. It was either that I was going crazy or that someone was trespassing on the land. Neither of those struck me as a much better option.”
“Or it could’ve been your son’s girlfriend who he’s been hiding in the basement.”
“Ha. Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that was going to be my next guess.”
He walked over to the dilapidated greenhouse and took a look at the structure with a scrutinizing eye. “Well, either way, I’m glad you’re okay and that you don’t have ghosts or trespassers. Just kids being kids.”
“Is this what kids do? I don’t remember reading this chapter in the parenting book.”