AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, you’re always growling at me, and it makes me nervous, I guess. Ruby just said it plain as day, as if it were common knowledge. And it made sense. So, there you go.” She shrugged.
“All right. I better get this call. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I picked up the phone. “Hey, Grammie.”
“Hello, my boy. Why are you still at work?”
“Because I’m busy,” I said.
And I don’t want to go home because all I do is think about her.
She was leaving. I’d get over it. But right now, I needed to stay busy.
“Ahhh… Ruby came by to see me yesterday. She stopped by on her way to say goodbye to the kids at Fresh Start. Have you said goodbye to her yet?”
“She hasn’t left yet, so no. And I haven’t seen her in a few days.”
“Yes, she mentioned that,” Grammie said, and I wanted to know more.
“What did she say?”
“She said that she hadn’t seen you and that maybe it was better that way because she was leaving.”
“Typical Ruby. She’s always psychoanalyzing everything.”
“I think owning it is better than denying how you feel.”
“I’ve got news for you,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “You can own it and be in denial at the same time. That girl thinks she knows everything, and she’s more in denial than I am.”
There. I said it.It was the truth.
“And what exactly is she in denial about?” she pressed, because that was my grandmother’s favorite thing to do.
“She’s running away. She likes to analyze everyone around her, but she’s afraid to look in the goddamn mirror. Afraid to admit how she feels. Not the best quality for a doctor of psychology,” I hissed.
“Spoken like a man who knows what he’s talking about. Maybe you’re in denial, too?”
I groaned. I’d set her up for this conversation, and she was going to enjoy it. “Listen, I’m not in denial. I have always said exactly how I feel. And I was honest with her in the beginning, but then things changed. I haven’t said anything because I don’t want to pressure her to stay.I want her to want to stay. I was giving her time to figure her shit out.”
My grandmother was quiet on the other end for a moment before she finally spoke. “Sometimes, people need more. She’snot had a lot of people take care of her, River. She might not know how you feel,” she said.
“How could she not know? She’s a smart woman.” And she knows, because I’d written her a note and let her know. And then what did she do? She shut me out. I never heard from her again.
I’m sure I’d freaked her the fuck out.
“And you’re a smart man, yet you don’t seem to know how she feels. Why don’t you stop being a stubborn ass and be the one to take the first step? Just tell her how you feel. What do you have to lose?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I did. I wrote her a note, and it clearly freaked her out.”
“Really? You wrote her a love letter? I’m impressed.”
“Well, don’t get too excited. It was a sticky note. I put it at the end of the contract so she’d see it before she signed it. Clearly, she saw it. She signed it. And she’s avoided me ever since.”
“River Pierce. Did I raise you to be a coward? You wrote it on a sticky note?”
“Hey. I put myself out there. I’m a man of few words, but at least I had the balls to say how I feel.”
“That’s not how a woman wants to hear from a man. Go down and talk to her face-to-face. Stop being a baby. You’ve never been afraid of anything. Don’t start now.”
