Page 16 of Lessons in Heartbreak

“I am not talking about this with you.”

As I watched, her eyes pinched shut, a furrow appearing in between her brows that shouldn’t have been cute but was.

Ruby, in fact, was cute. Very cute.

While she sat there, I studied her slightly off-balance features objectively. Her mouth was a little wide, her eyes a little big. Her nose was cute and small, and her cheekbones were high.

But everything about her worked, somehow—this small, pretty woman who used to hide in trees and watch me and my brother play.

“Okay.” I sat quietly, taking in a deep breath. The air was clean and fresh and sweet, and I wasn’t sure how much of what I was smelling was the trees and the grass, and how much was Ruby.

Glancing briefly in her direction, I noticed her eyes were open again, and she was staring at the creek too. In front of us, some children ran across the open field, pulling off their shoes to wade into the creek. Her face softened as she watched them. They clutched buckets in their hands and immediately started scooping up water.

“How does one go about hiring someone like him? I should’ve gotten his name. You never know when you’ll need an escort.”

Ruby didn’t answer right away; only the slightest bend to her eyebrows even let me know that she’d heard me.

“I literally just said I wasn’t going to talk about this with you.”

“Oh, mine was a rhetorical question.” I waved my hand in front of us. “Just putting it out into the universe in casesomeonewanted to talk about it.”

“Someone doesn’t,” she snapped.

On the grass in front of us, Bruiser rolled onto his back, wiggling around with a contented groan.

I slowly stretched my arm out along the back of the bench, careful to keep my fingers from touching her shoulders, which she kept locked with tension. “I’m an excellent listener, Ruby.”

“Most professional athletes are. I bet you have that listed right at the top of your personal strengths, don’t you? ‘Listens well to the problems of others’?”

“Ah, so you do know who I am now.”

She motioned to her phone, sitting on the bench next to the bakery bag. “Not really. Thought about googling you but decided that would just make it worse.” She plucked at another piece of muffin and ate it. “Your brother play too?”

“Nope. Not anymore. He got injured a few years ago and retired. He’s a coach now.”

“Seems like he’d be a good coach. He was always so smart.”

Of course she’d say that. Everyone knew Barrett was the Smart One. My jaw tightened briefly, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“People say he’s great, but I think my head would explode if I tried complimenting him.”

Her eyes shifted to the side of my face, but I kept my gaze forward. “Why? I remember the two of you being so close.”

I’d smiled a few times at Ruby Tate, but this one was different. Tight with tension. Filled with uncomfortable subtext. “When we were younger, we were. Not anymore.”

“That’s sad,” she said. “I always wished I had a sibling. Even if it was someone to fight with on occasion. It’s better than feeling alone.”

Oh, and wasn’t that an interesting little clue?

“You feeling lonely, little birdy? That why you’re paying for dates?”

“I wasn’t ‘paying for dates,’” she answered through gritted teeth. “Do you know how embarrassing this is? I haven’t seen you in fifteen years, and you’re here now. Today of all days.”

Instead of answering, I pushed my tongue against the inside of my cheek.

Ruby let out a heavy sigh. “You’re not going to leave me be until I tell you, are you?”

“Unlikely. I’m here on vacation for a couple weeks, and I’m bored out of my absolute mind.”

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