Chapter Eighty-Seven
Ruby
Thanksgiving Day
Nothing happens for a week and a half. No notes. No strange packages. No cameras catching movement in the yard. Just quiet. The kind that should feel reassuring. Instead, it leaves me on edge.
I check the doors before bed. Glance at the windows without thinking.
Catch myself listening when the house settles at night.
So does Xavier. He doesn’t say it. But I see it.
In the way he lingers a second longer at the locks.
In the way his eyes track movement before anyone else notices. In the way he never quite relaxes.
But life keeps moving forward, and suddenly, we’re at his house for Thanksgiving dinner. The smell hits the second the door opens. Turkey. Butter. Rolls. Apples. Pecans. Pumpkin. Warm. Comforting. Decadent.
“Jesus,” Bella says behind me. “Ben’s showing off.”
“Always.” Dominic tosses his jacket on the couch.
Voices carry through the house, Jake already at the fridge, Sam hovering near the stove like he’s about to get yelled at, music low in the background.
I step inside, taking it in. The layout. The exits. The people. Everyone’s already here. My shoulders loosen a fraction, and that pisses me off. How did I get to the point that I’m scanning my surroundings everywhere I go?
Xavier pauses behind me close enough that I’m aware of him without looking. “You good?” His voice is barely above a whisper, meant only for me.
“Yeah.” I glance around again. “I’m good.”
He nods once. His hand brushes the small of my back as we move further in, quick, subtle, gone before anyone can notice it. A lump forms in my throat, but I tamp it down before anyone can notice that either.
Ben stands at the stove as he owns it, which, technically, he does. A towel slung over his shoulder as he stirs something in a cast iron pan. “Don’t touch anything.” His warning is aimed at Sam as he reaches for a piece of a roll.
Sam glares at his brother. “It’s my house.”
“It’s my kitchen today.”
Jake laughs from the fridge with baby Grace snuggled in his arms. “I’m here for the free food.” He winks. “And the free entertainment.”
Ben points toward the table. “Sit down. All of you.”
Bella leans over the stove. “What’re you making?”
“Roasted turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and bread.”
“Marry me,” she says.
Dominic pulls back a chair and drops into it. “You’re already taken.”
Laughter fills the room. Easy. Familiar. I let myself sink into it. Ignoring that my life has been turned upside down by some random person who can’t figure out I’m taken, except I’m not. Whatever this is between Xavier and me, he won’t label it, and I’m not sure how long that’s going to be enough.
Emily hooks her arm through mine and pulls me toward the couch. “So,” she says. “Vet tech school.”
Bella drops down beside us. “Yes. We need details.”
I smile, settling in between my two best friends. Despite everything going on, I love these two and couldn’t imagine life without them. “There aren’t many yet.”
“You said spring semester.” Emily rests her knee on the cushion, turning sideways to face us.
“I did.”
Bella studies me. “You’re really doing it?”
“Yeah.” The word comes out steadier than I expected. “I’m signing up next month.”
Emily grins. “That’s amazing.”
Bella raises an eyebrow. “I don’t understand how either of you deal with blood.”
Emily shrugs, causing her ponytail to bob with the movement. “You get used to it.”
Bella looks at me. “What about you?”
I hesitate as moisture fills my mouth. “Honestly… I don’t.”
They both blink.
“What?” Emily tilts her head sideways as she tries to make sense of my response. She’s not the only one.
“I almost threw up earlier this week.”
Bella laughs. “See? I knew it.”
“What happened?” Emily asks.
“I stopped by Dad’s place the other day.” I shake my head as the memory leaves me unsettled. “One of the pigs cut its leg on some fencing.”
Bella winces. “Oh, God.”
“He needed an extra set of hands while he cleaned it before calling Dr. Carter out.”
“And?” Emily presses.
“And I thought I was going to pass out.”
“That’s normal for novices.” Emily laughs as Ben delivers drinks to everyone.
Bella shakes her head. “No thank you.”
I smile, but my gaze drifts without meaning to across the room. Xavier is leaning against the wall, talking to Sam and Jake, who are seated at the table with Dominic. His eyes flick up. Find me. Hold, just for a second. Then shift away as if nothing happened.
Like it didn’t matter. Like he didn’t spend the last two hours in bed with me, rocking my world with orgasm after orgasm. My chest constricts. I look back at the girls before anyone notices.
Emily’s brow furrows. “But you grew up around that. Livestock. Injuries. Typical farm stuff.”
“It’s different when it’s animals you care about.” At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. Because while blood can make me a little queasy at times, it usually doesn’t bother me that much.
And if this is something new, it doesn’t bode well for me. What vet is going to want a technician that needs to hurl in the toilet every time there’s a little blood involved?
Okay, it wasn’t a little blood. The cut was so deep the bone was exposed. And the tendons.
“I did.” I lift one shoulder as I block out the rawness of the injury, which is why it shouldn’t have bothered me. “But outside of delivery, Dad did most of the gory stuff.”
Bella’s winks. “That’s right. You were a regular pig midwife.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not a pig midwife.”
“You deliver pigs, right?”
“Yes,” I groan in response to Emily’s question, even though if I disagreed with her, she’d continue this path anyway.
“That sounds like a textbook definition of a pig midwife.” Emily lifts her glass. “To Ruby, the Swine Queen.”
Bella raises hers too. “Hear, hear.”
“Shut up.” I laugh and clink glasses with them. The sound is sharp in the room. “You two are ridiculous.” But I can’t deny that they’re just the right medicine to cheer me up.
From the kitchen, a cabinet slams a little harder than it should. I flinch so hard that my teeth rattle and the red liquid sloshes up to the edge of the glass before settling back down.
Emily rests her hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. A little jumpy.”
Xavier rotates his shoulders as if he tensed at the sound as well.
Ben swears under his breath, giving me a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Ruby.”
“It’s fine.” I wave a hand in his direction as heat fills my cheeks. Clearly, I’m not doing a very good job of pretending that everything is fine.
Conversation resumes. But nothing inside me relaxes.
I take a slow sip of my drink, letting the noise of the room wash over me again. The warmth. The laughter. The easy rhythm of people who trust each other. It should feel safe. And maybe it is. But underneath it, I can’t shake the feeling that something is off.
The door remains closed. I exhale and force myself to stay where I am. To laugh when Bella nudges me. To answer Emily’s next question. To pretend to be normal.
Or as close as I can pretend.