Page 46 of Coming Home to Crumbleton

‘How about a toast?’ she said, grabbing the bottle of bubbly.

‘Sure,’ said Oli, retrieving a couple of brightly coloured plastic flutes.

Ruby popped the cork and poured, then set the bottle into the basket for safekeeping before taking her drink from Oli.

‘To your dad,’ she said. ‘Mr Evans.’

‘To dad,’ said Oli. ‘And I think he’d ask you to call him Mike at this point!’

‘To Mike,’ Ruby added with a soft smile, before tapping the edge of her plastic cup against his and taking a sip.

‘And… to the rest of today, and your amazing event tomorrow!’ said Oli.

‘I’ll cheers to that,’ said Ruby as a little spark of excitement ignited somewhere in the pit of her stomach. ‘By the way, what are the plans for the rest of the day?’

‘Drink the rest of this bottle, eat our picnic, read to each other…’ said Oli, wiggling his eyebrows.

Ruby snorted. Why did she get the feeling he wasn’t really talking about reading?!

‘Great,’ she said, her voice slightly husky. ‘And… after that?’

‘Well, Caroline pointed out that I’m being a complete Ruby-hog, considering you’re planning on leaving right after the signing tomorrow,’ he said.

Ruby shifted uncomfortably. Why did her original plan suddenly feel like a lead weight in her stomach?

‘Anyway - I thought I’d better rectify that,’ he continued. ‘So Caroline is going to swoop over and pick us up when we’re done here, and we’re all going over to Crumbleton Sands for early drinks and food.’

‘We are?!’ said Ruby, her eyes lighting up in excitement.

‘Yep!’ he grinned. ‘And then we’re going to come home and help your mum.’

Ruby blinked. ‘Huh?’

‘She needs a hand getting her Odd Object entries up to the museum,’ said Oli.

‘How do you know that?’ said Ruby.

‘She told me when she came in to pick up her tickets for tomorrow,’ he said with an easy shrug.

‘She’s… she’s got tickets?’ said Ruby, feeling like the rug had just been pulled out from underneath her.

‘Are you kidding me?’ laughed Oli. ‘She’s had them reserved from the moment you confirmed you were up for it.’

‘I… I wasn’t sure if they’d come,’ said Ruby quietly.

‘They’d never miss this,’ said Oli. ‘I know you don’t always feel it, but they adore you, Rubes. They are so proud.’

Ruby nodded, staring down at the blanket. She wasn’t entirely sure if the tears that had just started to prickle at the corners of her eyes were going to make a break for freedom or not.

‘Heads up, though,’ said Oli, reaching out and stroking one finger over the back of her hand, ‘she did mention that she was going to come up with a couple of humdingers for the Q and A!’

Ruby snorted. That sounded more like the mother she knew and loved.

‘So,’ he said, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, ‘let’s make the most of this before Caroline ruins the mood… because we both know she’s awesome at that! More bubbly?’

Ruby grinned at him and held out her glass, then changed her mind.

‘Kiss first, please!’

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