It’s hasn’t even been a month since my last visit to the ranch, but there’s a meeting I have to attend in-person in New York, and thanks to Cam’s friends and family flight benefits, it was all too easy to book myself a flight to Austin instead of flying straight home from New York.
And seeing Everett again makes even that meeting bearable.
Chapter sixteen
Everett
Everett
Dinner and a movie tonight?
ROO
Lunch and an afternoon skipping work for Facetime, I assume?
Everett
Unless you’re gonna be here 2 days early baby girl, yeah
ROO
Call me at 8?
Everett
you got it baby girl
can’t wait to see you
Wait what’s 8 in Texas time?
ROO
uhh
Hold on I have to take a work call brb
Everett
Never mind
It’s 2pm
Talk to you soon baby girl
cook something nice
wear some skimpy pyjamas
ROO
I’m turning my notifications off xxx
I know Ruth doesn’t love these work calls she gets pulled into, but I also like to think I know her well enough now, from these weeks of texts and FaceTime calls, to know that she was smirking as she sent that last text. And God, but I wish I could kiss that little smirk off her beautiful face.
It might only have been a couple weeks since I last got to hold Ruth in my arms, but that’s a couple weeks too long. I didn’t even know it was possible to miss someone this hard, to feel so lost without them by your side, but since I dropped her at the airport after her last visit, I haven’t wanted to do much of anything. I haven’t wanted to see anyone. All I’ve had the energy to do is mope around, and take Della for long rides out to the plains. I’m sure Ruth would have a word for it, but all I can think of to describe it isempty. I’m empty without her, and some days, it’s hard to breathe until that moment I finally get to see her on a video call.
Still, I have some work to do around the ranch before I can relax and spend my afternoon with her. I’ve been taking the bulk of the early shifts recently, getting up before the sun and working through lunch, so I can finish in time to spend an hour or two talking to Ruth before it’s too late and she’s asleep. Truthfully, I don’t mind working earlies. There’s something magical about the rising sun, the colours she paints over night to eclipse the darkness. There’s a sense of peace in the quiet of the ranch, the dewdrops on grass, the low mist over the ground that matches the fog of my breath on the cooler mornings. There’s something special about being the first one to greet the day.
