Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
“W ell, I’m not going to lie, Ruby. This is not what I was expecting.”
“And what were you expecting?” Ruby asked, looking down at the wolf she’d attempted to roll up in an old rug.
In the end, he’d rolled himself onto the rug, seemingly trusting that Ruby was trying to help him, but now his eyes were closed and he was breathing softly.
Sleeping or passed out from the pain, she wasn’t sure which, but the poor guy was out cold.
Callie shrugged. “I figured we’d be burying a body, not rescuing a wolf.”
“It’s your first week back. I was trying to ease you in.”
Her friend laughed softly. “I appreciate that. Does Lena know?”
“That I’m attempting to drag an injured wolf into our garage? Um?… no. I didn’t want to wake her.”
Or tell her at all. Ruby had been operating under a strict don’t stress Lena out plan, and giant, bleeding predators were pretty stressful. Thankfully, this was one of the few nights Lena had managed to fall asleep, and she’d stayed that way even with the commotion in the backyard.
Callie looked skeptical.
“Will you help me get him the rest of the way in there? Just for the night.”
“How do you know it’s a he?”
“He has a very masculine energy.”
Callie laughed again, quietly so as not to wake the wolf. “God, you’re nuts. I missed you.”
“The feeling is mutual. But, seriously, help me move him. I don’t want him out here when the sun comes up.”
Ruby’s closest neighbor was about a quarter mile down the road, but Mabel had a tendency to wander over and see if the girls wanted any of her latest sourdough experiments.
Normally, Ruby was thrilled to have homemade bread in the house.
Homemade anything was rare these days, but she couldn’t risk her neighbor stumbling upon a wild animal.
Especially because if she did the entire town would know by noon and Ruby would rather not have this moment of her life become part of town lore.
Callie didn’t ask any more questions, just picked up the opposite corner of the rug and started pulling. And that was why Ruby had called her. Callie really was the friend you called when you needed to bury a body. Or in this case, hide a wolf.
They huffed and puffed as they dragged the animal across the lawn until they made it to the small garage that Lena and Ruby mostly used to store lawn-care equipment they never used alongside gardening equipment they never used and the snow removal equipment they used only when absolutely necessary.
They typically just trudged right through the snow.
Especially as they hadn’t had a working car since Aunt Millie’s finally bit the dust and they hadn’t found the money to fix it.
“Okay,” Callie said, panting from their strenuous task. “Now what?”
“I guess we could put him between the Miracle-Gro and the rock salt?”
“I mean, what’s your plan?”
Ruby frowned. “I hadn’t really thought past the getting him out of the yard part.”
All Ruby knew was she felt compelled to help this creature.
Which was odd because she’d never been the type.
In fourth grade when all the girls in her class were making save the sea turtle posters, Ruby hadn’t felt particularly passionate about an animal she’d probably never see in real life.
And when that nest of baby birds had landed on their deck, Lena was the one who insisted they nurse them back to health.
Ruby thought they were gross without their feathers.
But there was something about this wolf. She knew she couldn’t leave him there to suffer alone.
Except she also had no idea what she was going to do with him now.
“We could call the vet.”
“You really think that old Cecil who tends to people’s Pomeranians and house cats is going to know what to do with a wolf?”
Callie shrugged. “Do you have a better idea?”
Ruby worried her bottom lip with her teeth. She did not have a better idea. “Maybe he just needs to sleep it off.”
“He’s injured, not drunk.”
Callie was standing with her hands on her hips, looking down at the wolf. She was being remarkably calm about all of this even for her. It made Ruby think that Callie must have seen some shit while she was gone.
“Just help me get him situated.”
They dragged him further into the garage, and Ruby pulled the rug back affording them a better view. He really was enormous. After her frantic call to Callie, Ruby had Googled the average size of a wolf, and the one in front of her was definitely above average. Way above average.
Also, there weren’t supposed to be any wolves in Maine, but tell that to anyone in Maple Hollow and they’d laugh in your face.
He whimpered in his sleep, his front paws moving as though he was dreaming about chasing something. Ruby had the insane urge to crouch down and pet him. It already seemed crazy that she had touched him earlier in the night.
The whole thing felt like a fever dream.
Her walk home, the other wolf, the fight between them.
If he hadn’t been lying right in front of her, Ruby would have thought the whole thing was a nightmare.
Or one of her aunt’s terrifying bedtime stories. Ruby had always liked them, but Lena hid under the covers until her aunt made up something about a beautiful princess saving the day.
Ruby glanced at Callie in her trusty overalls and then down at herself in her dirt-covered work clothes. She wasn’t sure which one of them was the beautiful princess, but somebody needed to save the day.
“Okay,” she said, dusting her hands off. “Let’s let him sleep for now. He’ll be safe here. If he still can’t walk off on his own in the morning I will call Animal Control.”
Callie raised a blonde brow, and Ruby knew exactly what she was thinking.
Animal Control in Maple Hollow consisted of two brothers, Freddie and Steve, who happened to own a net and had no qualms about facing off with a skunk.
That was the bulk of their business. Removing skunks from under people’s porches or decks or gardening sheds.
Ruby was quite confident that neither brother had encountered a wolf, but she couldn’t very well domesticate him and keep him here forever.
Right?
“You can’t keep him,” Callie said as they backed quietly out of the garage, as though she could read Ruby’s mind.
“I know that.”
Callie laughed. “Do you, though? This is basically a dream come true for you. Don’t you remember watching all those werewolf movies as kids?”
“Okay, first of all, you say that like I stopped watching those movies at some point. Which I most certainly did not. And secondly, he’s not a werewolf . He’s just?… a?… very large regular wolf.”
“Right. Of course.”
“It’s just you didn’t see how?… tame he seemed. It was like?… it was like he knew me or something. Or at least like he was trying to protect me. Is that insane?”
Callie blew out a long breath, leaning her back against the side of the garage as she looked up at the starry sky. “I might have thought it was insane before, but not anymore.”
“Do you want to tell me about it now?” Ruby asked, mimicking her pose against the garage, so they were side by side.
“I learned a lot about myself while I was away. And a lot about my family. And I guess I know now that things aren’t always what they seem on the outside.”
“Deep.”
Callie nudged her shoulder against Ruby’s. “Oh, shut up.”
“And the flannel?”
Another long sigh.
“It’s Sawyer’s.”
“Sawyer? Wait?… no way! Sawyer? That Sawyer? The Sawyer!”
“Shush, you’re going to wake the wolf,” Callie said dryly.
“I cannot shush! You were wearing the shirt of the boy who starred in all your pre-teen fantasies! The boy whose name you secretly always wanted to come up as your husband in every game of MASH! The boy who you always claimed to be just friends with!”
Callie shrugged but Ruby caught the subtle smile playing on her lips. “I guess we’re not just friends anymore.”
“Oh my God!” Ruby squealed. “And how was it?”
“Ruby, come on…”
“No way, you have to give me something. It’s Sawyer . I watched you doodle that name on every notebook you owned.”
Callie giggled, and it felt like they were twelve all over again.
“It was and still is amazing.”
“Still is?! This wasn’t a one-time thing? You’re like?… a thing?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. My. God. And it took you a full fucking week to tell me?!”
“Ruby—”
“No, no, it’s fine.” Ruby brushed away the hurt of being left out of this vital piece of information. Callie came, no questions asked, when she called her in the middle of the night. She couldn’t be too mad at her.
“Hold on?… were you in Sawyer’s bed when I called you?”
Callie grinned. “No, he was in mine. He kinda?… moved in with me.”
Ruby squealed again. “This is crazy!” Ruby hadn’t seen Sawyer in years. He’d left town shortly after graduation and never looked back. Apparently, Callie had changed all that.
“Crazier than an injured wolf in your garage?”
“It might be.”
“He’d been looking for me, I guess,” Callie went on. “Over the past two years. And he, well, he found me.”
“Hold on, do I have Sawyer to thank for you coming out of your self-imposed exile?”
“Partly.”
“Wow.”
“He saw me for who I was and didn’t flinch.”
Ruby had a feeling there was a lot more to that statement, but she didn’t push. Callie was already sharing more than she expected her to tonight.
“So, this is more than sex?”
“A lot more.”
“You’re in love with him?”
“Yes.”
“And he’s in love with you?”
Callie’s smile practically lit up the night.
“Very much.”
They both sighed, leaning back again. The sky was beginning to lighten along the tree line, and exhaustion seeped back into Ruby’s bones.
“I should probably get some sleep, and so should you,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty for dragging Callie out of bed.
“You sure you don’t want me to stay?” she asked with a yawn.
Ruby smiled. “I’ll manage, but thanks for coming.”
“I got your back.” Callie winced a little. “I mean, now that I’m here again.”
“I know.” Ruby gave Callie’s arm a squeeze. “Whatever shit you had to deal with, I’m just glad you came home.”
“Me too.”
“Okay, now go home to Sawyer .” She couldn’t help sing-songing his name, and Callie laughed as she wandered out of Ruby’s yard and out front to where her station wagon was parked. Ruby sighed, thinking about the car that had taken them on many an adventure.
“Love you, Rube!” she whisper-shouted over her shoulder as she went through the old gate with its perpetually squeaky hinges.
“Love you too, Cal.”
Ruby peeked through the garage window at her sleeping wolf before heading inside to sleep herself. He was curled up now, his snout resting on his front paws. His shoulder was still a bloody mess but other than that he looked peaceful.
She left the side door of the garage cracked open, and she wouldn’t be surprised to find him gone by morning.
But she’d be a little sad if she did.