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* * *
When Hope arrived at Ruby’s school, the girl squealed at the sight of her. Then she came running with her arms flung wide, launching herself into Hope’s embrace with a force that nearly took them both down in a tumble.
“Whoa! Easy tiger,” she said, laughing. “Although, I have to admit, it’s nice to see someone so happy to see me.”
“Hope! What are you doing here? Where’s Daddy?” A look of alarm that no six-year-old should ever have flashed across her face. “Is he okay?”
Hope stroked her back comfortingly.
“He’s fine. He asked me to come get you because something came up at the bar.” Or so she assumed, judging by the clanging noises and Harvey’s yells coming through the line.
Worry still etched Ruby’s small face. “Daddy never lets anyone else drive me. Nobody. Not since Mommy died in a car crash.”
Hope’s heart stuttered at the revelation. Kneeling so they were at eye level, she laid her hands on Ruby’s shoulders. Mossy-green eyes, like her father’s, glittered with an uncertainty that broke Hope’s heart wide open, letting all kinds of love wash in.
“Well then, this is going to be extra special, isn’t it?”
Ruby’s mouth cracked into a grin.
“Come on.” Hope took her hand and led her toward Gabe’s Bronco. “I’ve been instructed to drop you off at Auntie Lori’s.”
“What?” Ruby squealed. “Why?”
“For a slumber party.”
A shout of pure joy echoed through the school parking lot as one little girl’s weekend got a whole lot brighter.
* * *
Hope drove like her grandma’s grandma, stopping before every white line at a stop sign instead of coasting slightly past it to a rolling stop. She kept to the speed limit, minus a few miles per hour—just in case. And finally, finally she reached Lori’s.
Eva came through the front door at full speed, greeting her cousin, who’d scrambled out of Gabe’s car before Hope could even unbuckle her own seat belt.
“What took you so long?” Eva asked, enveloping Ruby in a hug.
“Hope is a super slow driver. Worse than Daddy,” was all Hope heard before the girls disappeared inside, the door clicking shut behind them.
Lori crossed the lawn slowly, stopping within a foot of Hope, eyeing her like she’d never seen her before. “He let you drive?”
She shrugged. “There was an emergency at the bar.”
Lori continued to stare at her. “He doesn’t even let me drive Ruby,” she said matter-of-factly, though her look was anything but.
Not sure what to say, Hope shrugged again and tried not to fidget.
After a beat of silence, Lori nodded, as if something had clicked in her mind. “He thinks it was his fault, you know. The car accident. Carrie’s death. All of it.”
Hope nodded. Based on bits and pieces she’d learned over the last few months she knew Gabe’s wife had died in an accident of some kind, but hearing the words said out loud sent chills down her arms.
“He never told you?” Lori asked, obviously picking up on Hope’s discomfort. Playing it cool in horribly unsettling circumstances clearly wasn’t her strong suit, but it seemed wrong standing on Lori’s lawn discussing these things without Gabe present. Like, maybe, this was his story to tell.
“He doesn’t talk about it because he thinks it was his fault,” Lori went on. “It wasn’t his fault, of course. Carrie didn’t think she could drive herself and Ruby home one night, but when Gabe missed her call she decided to drive herself and, well, that’s when the accident happened. Carrie died in the hospital three days later. Ruby, by some miracle, barely had a scratch on her.” Lori stated this like it was just a fact of life and not the most heart-wrenching story Hope had ever heard. Hope dropped her gaze to the grass as she fought back tears.
“She could have called me, or Dad, or one of her friends. Not that it was her fault, either. It was no one’s fault. It was a horrible, horrible accident. But Gabe…” Lori cleared her throat. “Well, he’s never forgiven himself. And he’s never let anyone drive Ruby anywhere since then. Until today.”
A gentle palm nudged Hope’s cheek, and she looked up, her wet gaze meeting Lori’s knowing one.
“Until you,” Lori added.
