Chapter 4
Chapter Four
It was surprisingly easy to find out Carrie’s last name, even though Ruby had forgotten to ask in person the night before.
The university both kids attended had a student roster, with photographs of the students next to their names.
She felt a little creepy, going through the lists of students with a fine-tooth comb, but she didn’t know what else to do.
She needed to find Carrie’s last name so that she could do a quick Google search and make sure her son wasn’t dating someone who might bring more trouble into his life.
That was okay, wasn’t it?
This was part of being a mom… right?
She told herself this when she found Carrie listed as a junior with her full name, Carrie Peyton, and typed that exact name into the search bar. She could feel guilty about her search later. First, she just needed to get a read on the girl.
Initially, nothing really came up. It was a fairly common name, so Ruby wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting by not giving any more context. She added ‘Missouri’ to the search to narrow it down.
That’s when she saw it. The criminal record.
“No,” she whispered to herself.
This couldn’t belong to Milo’s Carrie. This had to be a coincidence.
Still, she clicked on the link. It opened up a government website that listed a handful of offenses underneath Carrie’s name.
There were two stints in jail for ‘petty theft,’ and a couple of speeding tickets that resulted in her losing her license three years ago.
There was a section in the top right corner of the page for a mug shot, but nothing was in the little box.
She scrolled through until she saw a birthday listed and did a little mental math.
Whoever this record belonged to, that person would be Carrie’s age.
Same name, same age… Was it a coincidence?
Ruby went back to the list of web results and spotted something else. A listing for someone connected to Carrie Peyton—Bruce Peyton. He was an older man, and according to the other government website Ruby ended up on, he was currently incarcerated in Rolla, Missouri.
Her dad.
Although Ruby had no way of knowing whether or not this was true, she couldn’t even be sure she was looking at Carrie’s record or a stranger’s; her stomach still dropped.
As someone who worked with many kids who had minor offenses or came from homes in which a parent was incarcerated, Ruby knew better than to hold any of this against the girl.
It was just as Aiden said; she needed to give Carrie the benefit of the doubt.
And she would. She would push past her concern for her son, shelve her worries, and take Carrie at face value.
What she knew about Carrie was that she made her son laugh, she had been under the impression that Ruby invited her to come to Florida, and…
That was it.
It was little, but it wasn’t nothing.
Ruby was determined to keep an open mind, even as her belly rumbled with nerves.
She finished her latte and began to pack up, shooting Milo a text while she still had service.
She stopped for some snacks and a frozen pizza at the store on her way back to the property and showed up at the same time Milo and Carrie were approaching the gravel path from the other direction.
They were sweaty, and Carrie’s legs were covered in mud. Milo looked exhausted.
“Are you guys okay?” Ruby asked as she got out of the car with the grocery bags.
“We’re fine,” Carrie said, laughing. “The rain just caught us off guard, and things got a little slick on the hike.”
“Carrie fell,” Milo said. “I just barely managed to stay up on my feet.”
“Did you hurt yourself?” Ruby asked the girl, concerned.
“Oh, no. I’m fine.” She grinned. “I’m tough.”
“Well…did you need anything? I could run back to the store to get Band-Aids or?—”
“I just need a shower,” Carrie said. “But Milo’s warned me that there’s no hot water heater at the house, so I was going to ask if we could borrow the car to go to the gym.”
Borrow the car…?
Ruby’s breath caught. She wondered if Milo would notice the strain in her voice when she asked the kids who exactly would be driving.
Her anxiety must’ve been painted all over her face because Carrie smiled and quickly added, “I’ll wipe my legs off before anything.
I don’t want to get your interior dirty. ”
“Oh—uh. No, that’s okay. I’m not worried about that.
Why don’t you guys come back to the house with me, and I’ll grab you some towels?
” She wanted to buy some time before having to hand her keys over.
If Carrie were going to drive, would Ruby be able to resist the urge to ask if she had an up-to-date driver’s license? She wasn’t sure.
They followed Ruby back to the main house, and Milo threw himself down on the top step of the porch. “I’m going to need a few minutes before I can rally to drive to the gym,” he said.
“That’s okay,” said Carrie. “I’ll get us some towels and fresh clothes. Water maybe?”
“Yes, please.”
She smiled down at him and went with Ruby back into the house. “What did you get up to today, Miss Wever?”
“You can call me Ruby.”
“Okay then, Ruby. Were you doing stuff on the property? It’s beautiful by the way. I didn’t get a chance to tell you this last night, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful piece of land. I’m obsessed with that old lighthouse as well.”
“Thank you,” Ruby said. “Milo probably told you, but it belonged to my great-aunt. I love the lighthouse as well, although I have to admit, I’ve never been inside it. Hopefully that day will come soon, though. Today, I worked a little bit on the greenhouse this morning and then went into town.”
Ruby put the groceries down on the fold-out table and started to put things away in the fridge, another gift from Dominic that tended to suck almost all the energy the solar panels gathered.
On a rainy day like today, Ruby reminded herself not to leave too many lights on just in case.
She still had to call the power company and see how hard it would be to get the property back on the grid.
“Sounds nice. I also love greenhouses.”
“This one is in rough shape at the moment,” Ruby informed her. “But I know it’s going to be so cool when I clean it and put in new windows.”
“I’ll bet. Did Dominic come around to help out?”
“Yeah.” Ruby frowned. “You know about Dominic?”
“And Lonnie. The past few days, Milo and I have been staying up late down in the basement talking about those two characters. I’m excited to get to meet them… Assuming that’s okay with you?”
“Oh sure,” Ruby said. “I don’t care.”
“Okay. Cool.”
“Why did you think I would?”
Carrie shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought maybe you were mad at me for being a part of this whole ruse—even though I swear to God, it wasn’t my idea.”
“I believe you.”
“I also thought you might be sending me on my way today. That’s sort of why Milo wanted to get out of the house first thing this morning and stay out for most of the day.”
“Ah, so he was up to something this morning. The coffee and donuts were just a distraction.”
“For the record, I think he did that as a real peace offering… But I can see how it would seem manipulative.” She shook her head.
“He’s just not that way. He’s been lying a lot, I know, but it’s not the real Milo.
He’s stressed and just doesn’t know what he’s doing.
I’ve been trying to help; that was my whole plan when he said you invited me out for a week or two.
I was going to see what I could do to finally get through to him again.
Now, I’m thinking that ship has sailed. You probably have a red-eye plane ticket with my name on it, don’t you? ”
Ruby snorted. “Even if I wanted to send you back, I’m not sure I could afford another last-minute plane ticket.”
“Oh.” This was clearly not the answer Carrie was hoping for. She looked down at her feet sadly. “Right. My mom would pay for it, just so you know. Or I could try to scrape some money together…”
Ruby stared at her for a few seconds.
“Why don’t we have a seat? I think there are some things we need to talk about.”
Carrie nodded, and they both pulled out a chair from the fold-out table.
They sat, and Ruby took a few seconds to collect her thoughts.
She wanted to have an open, honest conversation with Carrie without saying anything that might hurt her feelings or cause her to go on the defensive. It was going to be a tricky dance.
“So,” she began, since that seemed like a safe starting point.
“As I’ve already said, I believe you when you say that you didn’t know anything about Milo having lied to me, and I’m sorry that he brought you into this mess.
I can’t even imagine how awful it’s been to spend so much time in that freaky basement. ”
“It was okay.” Carrie shrugged. “The quiet was a nice reprieve.”
Ruby raised a questioning brow.
“I come from a big family,” she explained. “It’s just my mom trying to keep track of all six of us, and over the summer when everyone is out of school, things can get pretty… chaotic.”
“Ah. Yeah, that sounds like a lot. Noisy.”
“For sure,” Carrie laughed. “It’s non-stop noise all the time. I’m not saying I loved being in that basement room, but I also didn’t hate it as much as some people might.”
“Well, either way, I wish Milo had gone about this more honestly. It would’ve been nice to meet you under different circumstances, like you said last night.”
“I agree. I hate that this is how we meet for the first time. It’s such a bad first impression, and I already felt like I messed things up last year when I met Milo’s dad.”
“Yeah, Aiden mentioned that the two of you met at a parents’ weekend, but he didn’t think you and Milo were dating then.”