Page 33 of Summer Island

His question threw her into confusion. Fifteen years ago, Ruby had been barely out of braces, singing along to Madonna and wearing a dozen crucifixes and imagining that her future would follow the course of her childhood, that her family would always be together.

“Your mother keeps a lot to herself,” Dr. Allbright went on, “and as I said, shes fragile. I believe she always has been. You obviously disagree. ” He took a step toward her. This time it was Ruby who felt encroached upon. She steeled herself to stand her ground. “Your mother was doing almost seventy miles per hour when she hit that tree. And on the same day she lost her career. Pretty coincidental. ”

Ruby couldnt believe she hadnt made that connection. A chill moved through her. “Are you telling me she tried to kill herself?”

"Im saying its coincidental. Dangerously so.

Ruby released a heavy breath. Suddenly, it didnt seem like a good idea to be responsible for her mother; not even for a few days. No one emotionally unstable should be entrusted to Ruby-hell, goldfish couldnt survive her care.

“You dont know your mother. Remember that. ”

That observation put Ruby back on solid ground. “And whos fault is that? Im not the one who walked out. ”

He stared down at her; gave her the kind of look shed seen time and time again in her life.

Oh, good, she thought, now Im disappointing total strangers.

“No, youre not,” he said evenly, “and youre not sixteen anymore, either. ”

Ruby should have rented a bigger car. Like maybe a Hummer or a Winne

bago.

This minivan was too small for her and Nora. They were trapped in side-by-side front seats. With the windows rolled up, there seemed to be no air left to breathe, and nothing to do but talk.

Ruby cranked up the radio.

Celine Dions pure, vibrant voice filled the car; something about love coming to those who believed.

“Do you think you could turn that down?” Nora said. “Im getting a headache. ”

Rubys gaze flicked sideways. Nora looked tired; her skin, normally pale, now appeared to have the translucence of bone china. Tiny blue veins webbed the sunken flesh at her temples. She turned to Ruby and attempted a smile, but in truth, her mouth barely trembled before she closed her eyes and leaned against the window.

Fragile.

Ruby couldnt wrap her arms around that thought. It was too alien from her own experience. Her mother had always been made of steel. Even as a young girl, Ruby had known her mothers strength. The other kids in her class were afraid of their fathers when report cards came out. Not the Bridge girls. They lived in fear of disappointing their mother.

Not that she ever punished them particularly, or yelled or screamed. No, it was worse than that.

Im disappointed in you, Ruby Elizabeth . . . life isnt kind to women who take the easy road.

Ruby had never known what the easy road was, exactly, or where it led, but she knew it was a bad thing. Almost as bad as “fooling yourself”-another thing Nora wouldnt abide.

The truth doesnt go away just because you shut your eyes had been another of her mothers favorite sayings.

Of course, those had been the “before” days. Afterward, no one in the family cared much about disappointing Nora Bridge. In fact, Ruby had gone out of her way to do just that.

“Ruby? The music?”

Ruby snapped the radio oft. The metronomic whoosh-thump, whoosh-thump of the windshield wipers filled the sudden silence.

Only a few miles from downtown Seattle, the gray city gave way to a sprawling collection of squat, flat-topped strip malls. A few miles more and they were in farming land. Rolling, tree-shrouded hills and lush green pastures fanned out on either side of the freeway. The white ice-cream dome of Mount Baker sat on a layer of fog above the flat farmland.

Ruby actually sped up as they drove through the sleepy town of Mount Vernon; she was afraid her mother would say something intimate, like Remember how we used to bicycle through the tulip fields at festival time?

But when she glanced sideways, she saw that Nora was asleep.

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief and eased off the accelerator. It felt good to drive the rest of the way without wondering if she was being watched.

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