Page 8 of Ruby's Strength

I can tell she wants to bitch me out for making noise and waking her up, but she holds her tongue, I just said the two magic words. Coffee and chocolate. She turns and walks back into the house leaving the door open for me. I finish putting in the last few screws to hang the last floodlight I bought at the store to install. I get down, more than ready to spend time with Ruby. I grab our coffees and breakfast from my truck and walk into her house.

I’m not expecting her to already be dressed in jeans and a red flannel shirt when I walk in. “You didn’t have to change on my account,” I say moving my eyebrows up and down.

Ruby rolls her eyes. “You said you had coffee.” She motions to the cups I placed on the counter.

I grab hers and hand it to her. The smile on her face as she drinks her first sip has me thanking god I went to Ms. Molly’s this morning.

“Sooo good. It’s the perfect temperature. Usually, I have to wait like fifteen minutes to drink it because it’s so hot. Not today though.” She takes another sip then puts it down on the coffee table.

“Would you like to sit down?” She offers, gesturing towards the couch in front of the already lit fireplace.

I wave my hand over at the couch so she’ll sit first. She shakes her head at me with a small smile on her face and sits down with her coffee. I grab our food and place it between us before sitting down beside her.

“What were you doing just now?”

“I installed floodlights. Two are pointing at your garage, so whenever you come home at night, they’ll turn on. Then there’s one pointing near your door so as you walk up you’re whole front yard should be illuminated.”

“I really didn’t need those.”

“You really did.” I counter.

When I think she’s going to argue with me some more, she surprises me. “Thank you, Rett. You didn’t have to do that, but it was sweet that you thought of it.”

Pride wells up inside me, and I’m thankful that she’s let this drop. I need to know I’ve done everything I can to make her safe, even if she doesn’t like it.

Bending down, she inhales the food in the bag, and her eyes roll in the back of her head. “That smells delicious. I’ve been going to Ms. Molly for years to get my coffee fix, and I’ve never been disappointed.”

I hand her a chocolate croissant and take out my breakfast sandwich, a different one than I got the day before. At this rate, I’m going to try a new one each day. When Ruby eyes my sandwich and licks her lips, I hand it over to her, and her eyes light up. “I’ve never had one of these before, but it smells amazing.” She takes her first bite and moans. When she’s done chewing and swallows she licks her lips. “What?”

“You’re cute while you eat.”

She rolls her eyes, something I’m finding she likes to do all the time, at least with me. She keeps eating, and I take the second sandwich I picked up, you know just in case she wanted one too, and finish it off in only a few bites. Over breakfast, Ruby tells me about the construction company that she owns with her brothers. I heard about it some yesterday, but it’s different hearing her perspective on it. She tells me about how her dad built up the company, and as they got older, it really became ‘an all hands-on-deck’ company within the family. Once we’re finished, I grab our trash and take it into the kitchen, looking around for the garbage can.

“It’s under the sink,” Ruby says standing at the entrance of the kitchen watching me fumble around.

“Thank you.”

“I should be the one thanking you. I needed to go to the grocery store, you saved me from going shopping hungry and without caffeine.”

“I know exactly how you can thank me.”

“Oh yeah, big man, what’s that?” She snorts when she laughs, and a blush covers her cheeks.

“Will you go out with me tonight Beautiful?”

“Like a date?” She squeaks. Her innocence is adorable.

“As in a date. I’ll come to pick you up. We’ll do something fun, and then I’ll bring you back home when you’re ready.”

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