Page 7 of Strictly Friends
‘I’m really sorry, Fi, but like I said, I’m resigning,’ Ruby muttered. She ducked her head to avoid the accusatory gaze following the gobsmacked response.
‘Why?’ Fi demanded. Her gravelly voice, the legacy of smoking twenty cigarettes a day throughout her twenties and thirties, sounded even more like ground glass than usual. ‘Have you found another job? Howcouldyou—?’
Ruby’s head jerked upwards. ‘No!Of courseI haven’t found another job! Okay, that sounds stupid.’ She paused to take a breath. ‘What I mean is, I’m resigning because I need to take Jake away and I can’t say how long we’ll be gone. I’m sorry, I should have chosen my words a bit more carefully instead of just blurting it out like that. The thing is, I’ve used up almost all my holiday entitlement for the year and it’s not fair to mess you around when I don’t knowwhen I’ll be back. I can’t do my job remotely and, besides, I’ll be busy with Jake, so... Well, I don’t see any other way round it. I’ve got enough savings to tide me over for a while and I’ll just have to look for another job when we return.’
Fi slumped back into her chair and exhaled loudly. ‘Bloody hell, you had me going there for a minute! I really thought you were planning to leave.’
‘Iamplanning to leave.’
‘No, Rubes, you are not! Now, tell me what’s going on and how I can help.’
Fi’s tone brooked no argument and after a moment of silent resistance, Ruby reluctantly started talking. Initially trying to keep her explanation brief, she quickly found herself blurting out everything that had taken place over the past couple of weeks.
‘—and even after the incident with that kid, Oliver, nothing I say seems to be getting through to Jake. When I picked him up from his friend’s house on Saturday, Archie’s mum said Jake told them his dad was away training for a passenger flight to Mars. You should have seen the look of total pity on her face... I wasmortified! Given the chance, I’d send Kenny to Mars in a heartbeat, but things are seriously getting out of hand. My up-until-now perfect son is getting into trouble at school and telling ridiculous lies about his father to anyone who’ll listen! If I don’t nip this in the bud, who knows where all this will lead?’
‘So, you’re going to drag the poor boy halfway around the world to meet Kenny,’ Fi said flatly when Ruby paused for breath. ‘Are you sure that’s wise? The man hasn’t bothered to be a dad to Jake for, what,sixyears? What makes you so sure that bringing them together won’t make matters worse?’
‘I’m not,’ Ruby confessed, gripping the arms of the visitor’s chair as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position. ‘Seriously, Fi, would it kill you to get a decent-sized chair in here?’
Ignoring her boss’s narrowed eyes, Ruby continued. ‘Quite honestly, if I had my way, neither my son nor I would ever lay eyes on Kenny again. He did a truly crappy thing leaving us the way he did, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s Jake’s dad. I’ll be right there to protect Jake if it turns out Kenny isn’t responsible enough to have a relationship with his son but, Fi, if there’s even a minuscule chance that meeting his father will help, then I don’t have a choice. Sorrel Island is miles away but, like Auntie Pearl says, if Jake doesn’t see the reality for himself, he’s always going to create a fantasy version of the man.’
‘So, your Auntie Pearl is obviously fine with you going off into the sunset, but what about the gorgeous Griffin? What does he have to say about this?’
Ruby frowned. ‘What do you mean? There’s no reason he gets to have an opinion about it.’
‘Puh-lease,’ Fi snorted. ‘You two are practically joined at the hip. He surely can’t be too happy at the idea of you sodding off to the other side of the world in hot pursuit of your ex?’
Ruby shook her head impatiently. ‘Griff is my best mate, but that doesn’t give him the right to decide what I do or don’t do. Besides, he adores Jake, and I know he would want me to do whatever makes the boy happy.’
‘All of which means you haven’t told him yet,’ Fi said, her tone distinctly sceptical. She picked up a sheet of paper from her desk and made a show of reading it, and then tossed it back on to the desk and cocked her head curiously.
‘I generally try to mind my own business, but I’m going to ask anyway because it’s been niggling at me for years. How come you and the gorgeous Griffin aren’t’ – she raised her hands in air quotes – ‘together? You’ve always insisted you’re just friends, but have you two honestly never been an item?’
Ruby burst out laughing. ‘Don’t be funny! Griffin and I have been best friends since we were teenagers. Listen, that boy has never been short of girls fawning over him – which is probably why he gets through them like a hot knife through butter! Trust me, I’ve never felt any desire to join the list.’
‘Ye-es, but you two aresoclose. Are you saying you and he never evenconsidered... well... you know?’
Ruby shook her head, wondering why people found it so hard to believe it possible to have a best friend of a different sex. Fi’s quizzical expression didn’t budge and after a moment, Ruby sighed. ‘Okay, therewasthis one time when we were about... fifteen, I think? I don’t know what got into us – probably the cider he’d sneaked out of his mum’s house – but we were hanging out together and Griff kissed me. I had braces on my teeth at the time, and he came at me out of nowhere. Our teeth clashed and— Urgh, it was awful!’ Ruby giggled at the memory. ‘We were both so appalled we agreed on the spot that it wouldneverhappen again.’
‘So, you’re strictly friends?’
‘Indeed, we are,’ Ruby agreed cheerfully. ‘I know some people find it weird – even Kenny struggled to get his head around it at times. I think it’s partly why they never got on. Of course, it didn’t help that Griff thought I’d rushed into things with Kenny, and didn’t hold back from telling me so. That time was probably the closest Griffin and I ever got to falling out.’
Fi stared at her thoughtfully. ‘You know, Rubes, I’ve never been able to get my head around why Kenny just disappeared.’
‘Yeah, well, that makes two of us. It just goes to show how badly you can misjudge someone.’
‘So, as far as you could tell, things were okay between the two of you? It’s just so weird how one minute he was like this loving partner and proud dad, and then the next minute...poof! In my experience – and that includes both my marriages – whenrelationships fall apart, there’s usually been heaps of arguments, slammed doors, and chilled silences. You and Kenny weren’t secretly at each other’s throats behind closed doors, were you?’
Ruby shifted uncomfortably, thrown by the question. She hated thinking about Kenny. Dredging up a past she couldn’t do anything to change had always felt like a waste of time, and analysing her failed relationship was something she generally avoided. But Fi was clearly not going to drop it, and it was hard to tell her to mind her own business only minutes after resigning and leaving her in the lurch.
‘No, of course we weren’t. I actually thought things were pretty good between us. We wound each other up at times, but, yeah, we were – well,Iwas – happy. He worked hard and loved partying and having a good time. Coming here from Trinidad, he had a big network of friends, and I think he knew every Caribbean hotspot in London. Like any couple, we had our differences. Kenny was way more touchy-feely and romantic than me and he could get possessive – which was annoying – but I’d always made it clear I would never drop my friends just because he and I were together.’
‘Allyour friends or just one in particular?’ Fi murmured, smoothing her bouffant blonde curls and fixing Ruby with a shrewd stare.
‘Can we get back to the reason I’m here,’ Ruby said pointedly. ‘I’ve just handed in my resignation, so can we please focus on how we’re going to find my replacement?’
Fi leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. ‘You arenotresigning, and that’s that! When are you planning on taking this crazy trip?’
