Page 41 of No One's Like You
"I wish," says Ruby. "Everything we see is the same as before. If it's in a decent area, it's expensive, and what's cheap needs too much renovation, which we can't afford. The owner of our current place gave us another month to decide what to do, but I'm becoming less optimistic."
"Don't say that, Ruby. Pessimism doesn't run in this family," her mother snaps.
Ruby raises an eyebrow and bites her tongue when she thinks about reminding her how she was a few months ago, locked up in her house, dejected and depressed whilerefusing to do anything to change her situation. To Ruby, a person who shuts herself away thinking she'll never get over her husband's death is someone pessimistic—at least, her mother was for months.
"It's not pessimism, Mom. It's realism. We don't have the money they're asking for, the bank won't give us more credit, and the option of another rental seems impossible in the short term. I prefer to start preparing myself now, so it won't be so hard when we really have to close," Ruby says.
"What would you like to do?" asks Odette.
Ruby frowns.
"I don't understand what you mean."
"About the bar," Odette clarifies. "Would you like to continue? Or deep down, does it not matter if you eventually have to close it? Your mother told me you're planning to do Route 66 soon, maybe you want a change."
"I don't want a change," Ruby responds immediately. "I mean, yes, I am going to do Route 66, but I don't want to have to leave the bar. It's our dream, mine and Ellie's, and we love working there, but if it's not possible, we'll have to figure it out and start from scratch."
"I see," says Odette, thoughtfully.
The next hour, Ruby spends helping her mother with the food while Odette, with her crossword puzzle magazine open on the table, reads descriptions and says the number of letters in the word. Ruby doesn't intervene even when she knows the answer. She just watches the women out of the corner of her eye and notices that Odette, most of the time, writes down the word as soon as she finishes readingthe description because she already knows it, but she stays quiet and lets Adele think until the word comes to her mind and she says it.
"That's it," says Odette, pretending to write it down, letting Adele smile from ear to ear at feeling like the winner.
Ruby smiles at the woman, thinking she should thank Jerome for telling Odette's daughter about her mother so she would consider her for a position that has undoubtedly restored her will to live.
Chapter 26
What seemed like an excellent idea to Ellie Trahan yesterday is a massive mistake today. While the day before she felt lost and even desolate with a mind unable to stay still for even five minutes, she decided to force what she calls a reality check. So, without thinking twice, she grabbed paper and pencil to make a list of things she could do to confirm what she already knows, but she's stubborn and needs double confirmation. She's in love with Ruby, that's undeniable; what she wants is to verify just how deep those feelings run. Getting involved with her best friend romantically could be painted as a fairy tale, though it's also a risky decision, like a double-edged sword, because if something goes wrong between them, they'd lose each other and the bar could become a potential battleground. Just imagining it made her feel suffocated and, as if by magic, her plan came to life.
"I go to the gym six days a week and run three. I love rock climbing and could play tennis anytime."
The athletic boasting comes from the muscle-head Ellie has sitting across from her. Yes, her grand idea was to have a date with a random guy from the famous app. Why did she do it? Right now, it's not as clear as it was yesterday. In her head, it sounded fantastic because Ellie has been comparing all her partners to her best friend her entire life. How Ruby gives the most relaxing massages or makes the best cocktails in the world. How she has more patience than any of them and gives advice that changes everything. In all those cases, Ellie didn't do it consciously; for her it was something natural, so she forced herself to meet someone and make these comparisons while acknowledging that's why she's there. Ellie is sure she's been wasting her time with her companions her whole life; the wedding with Marcel was complete nonsense, as was every mouth she's kissed—except Ruby's, of course—since she was a teenager. In the twenty-five minutes she's been in this tasteless restaurant, she's reached very revealing conclusions that confirm each of her thoughts.
Ruby would never take her to a place full of screens showing sporting events.
Ruby wouldn't spend twenty minutes delivering a monologue about herself.
Ruby would have made her laugh at least five times by now.
Ruby would engage in an interesting conversation where both would participate.
Ruby would wear that oversized pink shirt, open at the chest, that looks so good on her for this date.
Ruby doesn't have that beard.
Ruby has gummy-bear lips.
Ruby is Ruby.
And Ellie doesn't want anyone else.
"This isn't going to work," she interrupts the muscle-head who at that moment is talking about how firm his butt is thanks to Bulgarian squats.
"Excuse me?" the man's face shows total bewilderment. He knows all women drool over him.
Jerk.
Ellie finishes rummaging through her purse until she finds her wallet. She opens it and pulls out two twenty-dollar bills. She places them on the table and stands up.
