“Make yourself comfy,” I said.
Ruth tilted her shoulder, her bag slipping down her arm to hang over the back of the chair. She tilted her cane against the table, nudged out the chair to sit down, and off came her enormous hat.
My eyes widened, and my keys tumbled from my hand.
Ruth was beautiful in a way I couldn’t describe.Etherealwas the closest word that popped into my mind. Her dark hair was swept into a loose bun. Beneath heavy lashes, her owlish eyes blinked slowly, absorbing every detail of the tiny kitchen. Not even the jagged lines of the angry red scars bolted up her neck detracted from delicate features that only looked prettier when she beamed one of her endless smiles.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I brought some snacks!”
She fumbled in her bag to pull out a yellow container, her left hand resting daintily but motionless in her lap. I carefully hid a worried frown and kept myself busy putting on the kettle. Ruth never used her left hand. Aiden had said she was in an accident—he’d warned me it was serious—but a silent heaviness crushed my heart flat to imagine all she must have gone through ten years ago.
After a whirlwind of dashing about, mild panic, and a last-minute delivery of a pink teapot with matching cups to the table, I sagged into the chair.
Ruth shoved the yellow container under my nose. “Would you like to try one?” Her grin shook at the edges, her offering to me as serious as a sacrifice to the gods.
Curious, I peered inside. My heart sank.
The miniature cupcakes were adorable. Strawberry icing swirled around fluffy white cakes with marzipan butterflies dotted on top. Next to them was a stack of honey jumbles with thick pink icing. My eyes narrowed. They were homemade too—just the way I’d told Aiden I loved them the day he’d come for lunch.
This was nothing but another attempt by that infuriating man to earn my forgiveness.
Sighing, I rubbed my temple. “Aiden put you up to this.”
“No!” she insisted. “He’s actually going to kill me when he finds out I stopped by. He gave me one of his long, boring speeches about not sticking my nose in his business.” She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have to stick my nose in if he wasn’t acting so—you know—likehim.”
I couldn’t help laughing. I knew. I nodded at the treats. “So, Aiden just sits around waxing lyrical about my favourite cakes and biscuits?” I lifted the teapot to fill our cups.
“And everything else. He never stops talking about you. He’s completely head over heels. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I stared at Ruth, my jaw on the floor, water gushing from the teapot even though it was dangerously close to spilling over the rim of the frilly pink teacup.
“Sorry!” Ruth waved her right hand at me, frantic, and I quickly pulled back the teapot just in time. “Sorry.Aiden told me Idefinitelyshouldn’t say something like that.” She clapped her hand to her forehead. “Am I making this worse?”
“I’m not sure it’s possible to make it worse.”
“He messed up that bad?”
My shoulders hunched a little more when I sank lower in the chair. Ruth seemed nice, but I barely knew her. How much had Aiden told her? How much sugarcoating had he done to paint himself less like the devil who’d rejected me in front of everyone crammed into the bar?
“That man.” Ruth shook her head. “He has no idea. He’s never been in a proper relationship before. Or—you know—anyrelationship.”
“What?” My eyebrows shot to the ceiling. Aiden was impossible to get to know, full of secrets, but he was gorgeous in all the right ways. Masculine. Strong. Talented. Sometimes, he’d spoiled me with moments of kindness so sweet it made my heart ache.“Never?”
Ruth shook her head. “In high school, sports kept him busy. Then, it was work. He was so dedicated to climbing the ranks he had no time for anything else. Not that women didn’t fall over themselves when he was around.” She lifted her shoulder like the whole idea of it was unthinkable. “I guess there’s something about a man in uniform.” She grinned. “Even a big dumb one.”
My hand stilled, the teacup hovering close to my lips. “Uniform?”
Ruth let out an annoyed sigh. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”
“Aiden has a pretty consistent habit of purposefully telling me as little as possible.”
Frustrated, Ruth plucked a honey jumble from the pile and stuffed a bite into her mouth. “I hate that Aiden does this. He erases half his life like it never happened. All because…” She trailed off, her eyes locked on the hand frozen in her lap. A beat passed. And another. “Aiden used to be a police officer. A sergeant, actually. He was awarded a bravery medal and everything.”
“That makes sense,” I told her simply.
Ruth’s owlish eyes blinked at me. I forced a tight smile. What else was I supposed to say? Curse Aiden because he’d never trusted me enough to share anything about his old life? Been there, done that, had the scars on my heart to prove it. And itdidmake sense. Aiden fit the bill of a police officer, right down to the way he stood at attention, watching everything, never rattled. Why he needed to keep that a secret, I had no clue, but all the puzzle pieces snapped together perfectly.
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you.” Ruth finished off her biscuit, chewing, lost in thought. “What else hasn’t he told you?”
