Page 19 of Big Bad Wolf

Ruby’s laugh sputtered out of her. “Oh yes, Sal and I are real besties these days. I just love to sit and listen to his conspiracy theories while he calls me unwanted pet names.”

Callie’s smile grew until she was laughing, too.

They used to laugh until tears streamed down their faces and their stomachs ached. It wasn’t like that this time, but maybe it would be again. Ruby had to hope that it would.

“I really missed you, Ruby. Sorry it took me so long to come home.”

“I missed you too and someday, someday soon, I’m going to need the story about what kept you away for so long. When you’re ready.”

“As long as I’m ready soon?” Callie asked with a smirk.

“Exactly.”

Ruby smiled back and that’s how Lena found them when she snuck into the kitchen. She was wrapped in a soft pink cardigan today, her dark hair pulled away from her face and she almost looked … normal.

“Are we all friends again?” she asked.

And how could Ruby say no? Her parents were never coming back, and her Aunt Millie was also never coming back, but somehow, she’d been gifted with the return of her friend. She was smart enough not to turn that away.

“Yes,” she said with a sigh, “we’re all friends again.”

“Yay!” Lena said, clapping her hands together. “Now you can both help me with my jigsaw puzzle. It’s a big one and I haven’t got past the upper lefthand corner.” Lena was burning through hobbies like crazy ever since she’d lost her job.

Callie laughed, wrapping her arm around Lena’s shoulder. “Well, we better get working then,” she said, and Ruby was just so happy to see her sister feeling well enough to be out of bed and to have her best friend somehow miraculously back in her life that she decided not to overthink it.

Maybe today was just a good day.

Those happened every once in a while, right?

Chapter Nine

Saturday nights in the bar were Ruby’s least favorite. They meant everyone in town was here, even her sister who was seated in a booth with Callie. Tom, Gil, and Kev were holding court at their usual table, taking bets on this weekend’s football games. Sierra was busy flirting with Bert, assuring him he was still attractive even with only one good knee. And Trina and Kurt were in a heated argument about something that probably happened over a decade ago.

A pretty rowdy night, but Ruby’s attention kept wandering over to her sister. She wanted to keep an eye on her. The last thing she needed was Lena having one of her bizarre episodes in the middle of the bar for the whole town to see and confirm their craziest theories. But so far everything seemed normal. Lena and Callie were giggling over their drinks, and it felt like old times.

Ruby glanced at the clock on the wall above the shelves of liquor bottles. It was past midnight. Last call on the weekend was at one. She was almost done.

Shouting and laughing from the back corner pulled her attention away from her sister.

A booth filled with out-of-towners had gotten sloppy and were getting louder by the minute. From what Ruby could gather, the guys were here for a camping trip, in town only for the weekend. They were young and stupid and overly confident in their ability to hold their liquor.

Ruby caught Macy’s eye from over the bar. Time to cut them off or they wouldn’t be able to stumble their way back to their tents or cabins or wherever they were staying. She put down a couple of waters in front of two particularly tipsy bros, and they gave her two sloppy smiles. The other two had gotten up to play darts. Rather unsuccessfully from what Ruby could tell.

“We didn’t order water.” The man looked like the villain from an 80s movie. Blonde hair, perfect teeth, polo shirt, far too much cologne. Ruby nearly gagged.

Instead, she smiled sweetly. “Drink up or you’ll feel even worse in the morning.”

“I’d feel better in the morning if you came home with me.” Blaine, she decided his name must be, or maybe Chad, grinned at his friend like he was being clever. His friend snickered.

Ruby wanted to say she doubted he’d be able to get it up in his current condition, but she worked for tips, so she didn’t.

Her face ached from smiling. “Cute,” she said. “But no thanks.”

Blaine narrowed his eyes, shifting in the booth closer to her. But Ruby was only half paying attention to him. Something else had shifted. The air in the bar. Awareness prickled along the back of her neck. She would bet her life that Rafe was here and watching her, but she didn’t turn around to check.

“Oh, come on, I think we could have fun together,” Blaine was saying. “You look like you like to have fun, Lena.”

Ruby’s eyes hurt so bad from the need to roll them that she had to squeeze them shut. Wait, did he just call her Lena? How did he know her sister’s name? And that was when that drunk fucker slid his hand up her skirt and grabbed a handful of her ass, leaving her no time to consider that little mystery.