“Have you heard from Clementine?”
Ruby might not want to talk about her family or acknowledge that we just landed in Iowa specifically to visit them. But I don’t particularly want to acknowledge the state of my family, either.
The England’s Cup Final was two days ago, and there’s a ten-day break in the polo calendar for all teams to recover and recalibrate from the first half of the season. Since then, no one has seen or heard from Clementine.
Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, because according to Hendricks and Alex, Story and Haven have heard from her. She’s just been missing from the family group chat.
I've used the break to fly out to Iowa with Ruby and visit her family.
My sister, meanwhile, has used it to spend time with Santiago Torres. And honestly, I can't tell you how I feel about it. I'm trying to be cool. I'm trying to be indifferent. But the thought makes me want to hurl.
The only saving grace is that I know Lando, Alex, and Hendricks don't quite understand what's going on either. I want to say I hope it blows over—that she just needs to get something out of her system—but from the way Ruby’s talked about it, I don't think he's going anywhere.
And luckily, every time I feel a rage descending, Ruby’s there to keep me sane. Like now, squeezing my hand.
She smiles, and I swear to God my mind clears and I forget everything. I truly don’t know what I used to do before Ruby Lanson came into my life. I can barely remember functioning. And that’s why I wanted to meet her parents and be with her when we told them about our relationship.
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks, since we decided to stay married. We still don’t know everything about each other, and I want to. If we’d done this properly, I would have asked her dad for permission beforehand.
Hopefully, he’ll grant it, even if it’s too late for him to do anything about it.
Whether he likes it or not, he’s stuck with me for life.
I figured I might have to talk Ruby into it, but after I suggested it following the Cup win, she agreed.
I don’t think she thought I meant the next day, however. But no time like the present . . .
I shake my head. “Let's try not to think about our crazy families.”
“That's easy for you to say. We're seeing mine in two hours,” she grumbles, her head flopping back onto the rest.
“Then tell me what to expect.”
The car surges into traffic, and Ruby takes a deep breath.
“My dad, Bobby, will be out in the fields or in the workshop. He probably won’t come in until dinnertime. My brothers . . .” She shrugs. “I dunno. Maybe with him. My mom, Lou-Anne, will be in the house, probably pickling something. Making her famous tomato chutney?—”
“It’s famous?”
“Best tomato chutney in the tri-county area,” she says, with pride in her voice.
“I can’t wait.” I wink, which earns me a smile. “When was the last time you went home?”
“Two and a half years ago?—”
Jesus. I can’t imagine not seeing my family for two and a half years, even with how annoying they are, and how much I wish I could divorce them. But we—myself included—are all too fucking nosy to let any of us disappear. Even Clementine. I know that by tomorrow, there’ll be half a dozen messages on the family group chat wanting to know what’s going on. Mostly from Alex.
It makes me sad, because Ruby deserves their support. They should be so fucking proud of what she’s achieved.I’mproud, and I’ve only known her seven months.
As usual, she reads my mind. “It’s okay, they just don’t really understand polo. Barrel racing, they could have gotten behind, but polo is a bit far out for them.” She smiles, though I can see the disappointment behind it. “My mom updates me on the farm, what they’re doing, sends me pictures of her pickles, that kind of thing . . .”
“And what do you share in return?”
“Pictures.” She shrugs and turns toward the window again. It didn’t take long for us to speed out of the congested airport surroundings until we’re traveling along the kind of straight roads you only seem to find in America, wide expanses with vast fields stretching out so far on either side they seem to reach the edges of the earth.
We pass walls of cornstalks neatly sown in rows stretching miles, reminding me of that baseball movie,Field of Dreams. Every now and then, the yellow fields are broken up and we see a couple of horses and cows grazing.
The closer we get, the more obvious her nerves become. Even if I couldn't see the map on the satnav, I'd know exactly how close we were from the way her body stiffens.
