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‘Darling, just try and stop me,’ he said. ‘So how about you, Luke. I’m thinking you could pick any of Bob’s characters from his prime years.’ Brynn gave Luke a careful once over. ‘Better known as The Sundance to Waldo Pepper years.’
Luke took a judicious sip of his beer. ‘When is this event?’
‘Tomorrow night,’ Ruby and Brynn said together. Ruby could hear the stupid yearning in her voice and wanted to take the words back.
Had he heard it, that eager desperation? The desire she’d had on lockdown for weeks. It seemed he had, when he placed the bottle back on the bar and the easy smile on his face disappeared. ‘Unfortunately, I’ll have to give it a miss.’
Oh shit.
The piercing pain swelling in Ruby’s lungs scored a direct hit with the confirmation of everything she’d feared his arrival in the bar signified.
Luke had come to say goodbye.
You already knew that, you ninny. Do not screw up all your hard work, not now, not when there has never been anything you can do to change the final fade out of this affair.
‘That’s a shame,’ Brynn said, speaking for both of them. ‘You would so have rocked Bob as The Great Gatsby in his Roaring Twenties flares.’ Sending Luke a smile, he headed off down the bar to serve a customer that had just walked in.
‘So what movie are you celebrating Babs and Bob night with?’ he asked. ‘Is it another of Matty’s Classics?’
She wondered, momentarily, why he was prolonging their conversation. But then she took a deep breath – the painful swelling in her chest threatening to cut off her air supply – and suddenly realized she didn’t care what his reasons were.
She wanted all the final minutes she could get with him. Why shouldn’t she grab them with both hands? She could handle the pain later. Today had already been awful enough. Losing Luke was going to be hard, but he hadn’t left yet.
‘The Way We Were,’ she said, in answer to his question. ‘Matty loved Babs and he always said Bob Redford was at his most bonkable in that movie.’ The blush ignited, but she ignored it. For goodness sake, don’t think about how bonkable Luke is, that will just make this even tougher. ‘I know a Streisand obsession is a bit of a gay cliché,’ she said, trying to steer the conversation back on to safer ground. Movie trivia had always saved her in the past, and now her life depended on it. ‘But Matty always said cliché is cliché for a reason. The film is a wonderful melodrama about two people who fall in love but are total opposites. She’s a working-class Jewish spitfire, passionate and determined and believes in fighting for lost causes, and he’s a handsome WASP who’s laid-back and privileged and doesn’t believe in lost causes, let alone fighting for them …’
Her words trailed off – why on earth was she giving Luke a plot synopsis for The Way We Were in their last moments together? And how come she couldn’t get over the horrible significance of that plot all of a sudden.
Had Luke figured out the truth? That she was totally Katie in this scenario – destined to be heartbroken and alone – and he was Hubbell – aloof and pragmatic?
The irony helped her even out her staggered breathing a bit. Get a clue, Rubes.
This wasn’t a movie, it was real life. Too real life.
‘You think I haven’t seen The Way We Were?’ he said, surprising Ruby so much she sputtered and nearly choked on her lemon-tini
‘You’ve seen it? Really?’
‘Yeah, really.’ Luke drank his beer, his piercing blue gaze meeting hers. ‘It’s the longest most turgid melodrama in movie history so kind of hard to forget.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘You think?’ he said and she had the strangest feeling he wanted to prolong this moment as well. Why did that make the moment even more precious and yet even more painful at the same time? ‘It’s goes on forever while going nowhere …’ He added. ‘And that damn theme tune is like the ear-worm of the century.’
‘Okay, I’ll admit the movie is a bit laggy in places,’ Ruby said, managing a smile despite the sadness searing her throat. Just keep talking about the movie and everything will be all right. ‘But Robert Redford is beyond gorgeous in Navy whites …’
‘If you like your guys short and squat and with too-perfect hair,’ he cut in, as he swept back the dark wave of hair that always flopped over his forehead.
‘And Babs is terrific,’ she soldiered on while allowing herself to get side-tracked admiring his too-perfect hair. ‘No way is the theme song an ear-worm, it’s beautiful and so evocative. And the whole two hours is worth it for that one scene in the bar.’
‘What scene in the bar?’ The blank look was back.
‘Oh, please? You don’t remember it?’ Okay, now she was offended. And a bit outraged. But at least she was breathing easier. She could do this, she could definitely do this. ‘Close your eyes,’ she said, suddenly gripped by an idea. A hopeless, silly, slightly pathetic idea. But one that had the potential to end this affair in the way she had always planned to end it. On her terms, as well as his.
She let the giddy kick of adrenaline flood her veins to cover the lingering pain.
Maybe Luke did not do romance. But when was she likely to get another chance to re-enact one of her favourite scenes from one of her favourite movies with a man who had given her so much in the last six weeks: he’d fixed their theatre and helped her get over the first big emotional hurdles caused by losing Matty, by simply being there when she needed him, and by giving her the best sex of her life. Surely that deserved to be celebrated not mourned?
‘Why do you want me to close my eyes?’ he said, the suspicious light in his gaze somehow flirtatious. Was this Luke’s way of saying goodbye? Letting her have a moment that would make this ending easier, no matter how hard?
