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I don’t know how to answer her, because anything I say will sound too cliché for someone as thoughtful and logical as my sister.
The truth is that if she’d asked me this question a week ago, I would have shrugged it off with a snort and an eye roll. I’ve never been the guy to believe in soulmates, destiny, true love, happily ever after. Those things are for fairy tales, not real life.
And yet just a short while into knowing Ruby, I’m completely changing my tune.
Maybe that’s the thing about soulmates. I don’t know if you can ever really believe in them until you find one yourself.
I don’t get a chance to answer Briar’s question, though, because the screen door squeaks as it opens, and I hear my mother calling my name.
When I turn and look over my shoulder, my eyes widen when I see Ruby standing next to her, her eyes and nose red like she’s been crying.
I fly out of my seat and go to her, immediately pulling her into my arms, wishing with every fiber of my being that I could take her emotional burden and strap it to my own back.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, even though I’m pretty sure I know the answer since she was just at her dinner with Ken and Linda.
She doesn’t answer me, just shakes her head and wraps her arms around my waist, and I take solace in the fact that I’m able to give her comfort when she so clearly needs it.
“Can I still come on the hike tomorrow?” she asks, her voice muffled against my shirt.
I bring a hand to her head and pull her in even tighter. “Of course you can. Absolutely.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
I don’t say it aloud, but she doesn’t need to thank me. She doesn’t need to feel gratitude for the fact that I want her around, that I’m ready to include her on my list of priorities.
Right now, she doesn’t need someone to give her any kind of advice or critique.
As the brother of three sisters and the son of a mother, I’ve had it drilled into my head many times that when women are upset, they want someone to listen to them, not someone who assumes they can fix the problem.
I know my place tonight will be to provide Ruby with a shoulder to cry on and an ear to vent to.
I just hope whatever it is that happened isn’t something that’s wounded Ruby in a way that’s impossible to repair.
chapter nineteen
Ruby
I’m nervous when I make the short walk across the stone pathway that leads from the guesthouse over to Ken and Linda’s.
I spent a few hours with Boyd, goofing off on the jet skis and lying out on the dock—this time with significantly more sunscreen. It was a struggle to keep my mind distracted from the looming dinner, but Boyd did his best to keep me laughing and smiling all afternoon.
Eventually he needed to start getting ready for the Mitchell family hike up to Kilroy, and I said goodbye, knowing it would be a good idea for me to get in a little nap and shower before going over to have dinner with my ‘dad’ and his wife.
The nap went slightly too long, leaving me with that deer-in-the-headlights feeling and mental fog that are difficult to shake off. Thankfully, I still had time for a quick shower. Nothing like a blast of cold water to wake up every nerve and neuron in your body.
Ken answers the door when I knock, his face looking as uncomfortable and awkward as I feel.
“Ruby,” he says, giving me a small smile. “Glad you could make it.”
I want to roll my eyes. Obviously I could make it. I literally came here to see him, not that he cared enough to be around when I arrived.
But I swallow those feelings down and return the sentiment. I can’t let my irritation be on the tip of my tongue all evening or else I should just turn around and leave now.
Politeness will get us much farther than anger.
“Me too.”
He waves me in and I cross through the doorway, my eyes taking in the inside of Ken’s lakeside home for the first time.
