Page 30 of Lessons in Heartbreak

Before I found a clean shirt in my room, I snagged my phone from the counter and told her to make herself comfortable. The sight of Steven’s texts had me grinning.

Steven:Why Are The Smoke Alarms Going Off

Steven:Your ass is so fired if you burn my house down

Steven:So help me, Griffin, if you wreck all that furniture my wife spent six months buying, it’ll take a year for the cops to find your body.

Steven:Call Me Right Now, you dick

Me:Relax. My dinner got a little crispy in the oven. All clear. No couches were harmed in the process of me cooking. I just got a little distracted.

Steven:Were you having sex in my house? Don’t tell me where.

Me:I was not. I was reading a WW2 book, actually.

Steven:Funny. Just have the housekeeper change the sheets before you leave, okay?

I rolled my eyes and plugged my phone in by the nightstand in the guest bedroom I’d claimed as my own. Steven told me to take any room I liked, but the thought of sleeping in the bed where he screwed his wife gave me the serious ick.

With a clean white T-shirt tugged over my torso, I walked back down the hallway and found Ruby standing by the folding slider doors, her hands clasped in front of her as she stared out at the sprawling view behind the house. The mountains were a dark brownish green in the distance, the acres of grass a lush emerald color that almost didn’t look real. Just beyond the patio, with its rectangular firepit surrounded by white Adirondacks, the pool glittered underneath the setting sun.

“It smells like a bonfire in here,” she commented, her eyes staying out on the backyard.

“Sorry about that. I might be able to scrounge up a frozen pizza or something if you’re still hungry after your ...” Her eyes snapped to me when I paused, but I recovered quickly. “Prior engagement, of which I will not be making inquiries.”

She hummed, her hands clasped so tightly that I could see the whites of her knuckles.

“You know why I burned our dinner?”

“Difficulty reading the instructions?”

I whistled. “Touché. But no.” I wandered over to the couch and picked up the book she’d selected, holding it aloft. Her eyes lit up instantly, and I saw the moment she tried to shutter it. “This is a great book. I lost track of time.”

“Really?”

“God, you sound so skeptical. I did go to college, you know. I can read.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You told me you needed a picture book about football.”

“My sense of humor is somewhat dry, with a healthy side dose of self-deprecation. It has a tendency to get me in trouble.”

Ruby’s eyes flicked over my covered chest. “I found an article about you climbing a bell tower in college while drunk and naked.”

“I have vague recollections of that.”

She rolled her eyes. “My point is that I think you can get into trouble all on your own, without the help of your sense of humor.”

I nodded sagely. “It is one of my strengths. Not one anyone else recognizes, though.”

“It seldom happens that way.” Her gaze tracked around the room, lingering on the pricey artwork decorating the walls. “What we view as our best traits don’t usually end up being our most memorable.”

“Now that’s an interesting distinction.” I leaned on the back of the couch and watched her. “But I’m not sure if that’s true for me.”

“How’s that?”

I spread my arms out. “Tell me, Ruby, how do you view me? After a couple exchanges. What would you say I’m like as a person?”

The graceful line of her throat worked on a swallow, but there was a surprising lack of hesitation when she answered. “Handsome. Athletically gifted. A player ...” She paused, holding up her hand when I opened my mouth to say something. “And not the kind who plays a game for a living.”

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