Page 59 of Strictly Friends
It had taken two days from their return home before Ruby finally broke under Auntie Pearl’s insistent questioning. With Jake safely upstairs in bed, Ruby had relayed as much about the events of the past few days as she was prepared to share.
‘Itisthe same thing,’ her aunt insisted. ‘I know the two of you are always in each other’s pockets, but I told you that him travelling all that way just to bring Jake’s toy made no sense.’
She leaned forward and cocked her head, straining to listen. ‘Is Jake asleep?’ she whispered. ‘This conversation is not for his ears.’
‘Yeah, he went out like a light. He’s so excited about going back to school tomorrow and is desperate to tell everyone abouthis trip. Which reminds me, I need to write him an absence letter for MrHinton’s files.’
‘Don’t change the subject.’ Auntie Pearl dismissed MrHinton’s needs with an impatient wave. ‘So now you know why Griffin followed you, and the reasonthatmanbehaved as he did.’
‘Didyouknow why Kenny left?’ Ruby looked at her aunt with narrowed eyes. After Griffin’s bombshell, nothing would have shocked her.
‘Did I know what? That the man ran off and left his family because he couldn’t cope with what he thought was the competition? Of course not! Iwould have told you on the spot – and given him a big slap!’ Auntie Pearl’s tone blended virtue with contempt for Kenny, whose name she still refused to speak.
She took another sip of tea and then placed her mug on the side table and looked at Ruby expectantly. ‘So, what was Griffin’s defence?’
‘I don’t know. He was too busy pointing out how I only got together with Kenny because no-one else has ever shown any interest in me to actually say,’ was Ruby’s sarcastic response. ‘Oh, and in case I didn’t get the message, he made sure to point out that Kenny didn’t fight for me because he didn’t think I was worth it,’ she added bitterly.
Clearly taken aback, Auntie Pearl blinked. ‘Are you very sure that’s what he said?’ she asked doubtfully. ‘That doesn’t sound like the Griffin I know.’
‘That’s my point, Auntie!’ Ruby exclaimed heatedly. ‘Heisn’tthe Griffin you – or I – thought we knew! He’s known foryearswhy Kenny ran off. He could have told me the truth at any time so I could have at least stopped blaming myself, but instead helied, and you know that’s the one thing I can’t tolerate.’
‘Yes, butwhydid he lie?’ Auntie Pearl persisted.
Ruby stared at her in frustration, biting hard on her tongue to stop herself screaming. What did it matter why he lied? Wasn’t itenough just knowing that he had? Besides, Griffin’s words had cut so deeply that Ruby had no intention of ever entertaining anything he had to say again.
To avoid a lecture on speaking disrespectfully to one’s elders, she forced herself to respond calmly. ‘Auntie Pearl, Griffin and I swore never to keep secrets from each other, so I don’tcarewhat muddle-headed thinking process told him that lying to his best friend was ever going to be okay, especially when he knows how I feel about dishonesty. Quite frankly, after the things he said to me, I can’t bear to look at him, never mind listen to his excuses.’
‘If you won’t speak to him, then what happens with Jake? The boy worships him!’
‘More’s the pity,’ Ruby scowled. ‘Jake can carry on seeing him if that’s what he wants, but I’ve told Griffin he has to go through you to make arrangements because I won’t talk to him.’
Auntie Pearl pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders and shook her head. ‘Ruby, the two of you have been inseparable for as long as I can remember. Are yousureabout this? Don’t look at me like that – I’m not saying I approve of him keeping the truth from you, even if it’s obvious why he did, but at least hear him out.’
Ruby looked at her with suspicion. ‘What’s obvious about any of this?’
Auntie Pearl’s sigh was deep enough to drown a grown man. ‘Darling, just go and talk to the boy and let him tell you himself why he’s been such a fool.’
Ruby picked up her untouched cup of tea and took a large gulp of its tepid contents. What her aunt couldn’t know without Ruby admitting the cruel words she had flung at Griffin – a detail which, along with the night on the beach, she had carefully omitted from her recital of events – was that Griffin was no more interested in speaking to Ruby than she was to him.
‘No, Auntie, I can’t do that,’ said Ruby, her tone uncompromising. ‘Griffin and I are done, and that’s the end of it.’
‘Thisis the end of The Ruby and Griffin Show?’ Fi’s face screamed pure scepticism as she studied Ruby’s set expression. ‘I’m sorry, Rubes, but I’m finding this really hard to believe.’
After dropping Jake – along with his absence letter and MrHinton’s box of coconut candies – at school, Ruby had gone into work hoping to surprise Fi by arriving a day earlier than expected. Now, squashed into her boss’s small visitor’s chair after a morning wading through hundreds of unread emails, Ruby was regretting having declined the extra day off.
Waving away the offer to view Ruby’s holiday photos unless it was over a drink, Fi’s only interest was in the finer points of Ruby’s bust-up with Griffin. But, after Auntie Pearl’s painfully forensic questioning, Ruby was thoroughly sick of rehashing the details.
‘Well, it’s true. Fi, I really don’t want to talk about what happenedorabout Griffin.’
Fi stood up from her perch on the corner of her desk and paced up and down, looking thoughtful. After a few moments, she wheeled around and demanded, ‘Is Griffin back in London yet?’
‘Fi!Which bit of “I don’t want to talk about it” is unclear?’
Fi looked at her sternly until Ruby folded.
‘I don’t know, for sure,’ she admitted. ‘He was staying on for another week or so to sort out funding a visiting programme for Diego – he’s the musician we met on the island – and his bandmates to hold music sessions for the children at Ocean House. Now, can we change the subject?Please!’
Fi opened her mouth, but when Ruby’s eyes flashed angrily, she closed it again, and raised a hand in surrender. ‘Okay, if that’s whatyou want. Since you decided to ignore my offer of an extra day to do your laundry and sort yourself out, I’ll catch you up on what’s been happening here. We also need to work out exactly what your new role is going to be.’
