AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“For the hundredth time, my name is Ruth, not Ruthie. I’m not a child or a dog. Nicknames are only for people I like.” She grinned daggers at him. “And we both know that’s not you, Trent.”
Anger flashed across his face. “How many times have I told you not to get uppity. Look what happened to your uppity dad. They would have thrown him in jail if he hadn’t gone and died. You should be happy he didn’t have the chance to disgrace the family like that. I mean, after all, you do a good job of that all on your own.”
“And you do such a good job of showing off what complete tools your parents must be to have raised an entitled, whiny, little bitch-boy like you.”
Okay, I was officially becoming more and more of a fan of Ruth Harshbarger with each passing day I knew her.
I intentionally stayed out of it this time, though, because I did not need to get involved with something that was not my business.
Trent’s face got red and he leaned in, having stalked towards us so that he was now only a couple of feet away. He sneered at Ruth. “That’s not what you said when we dated and you begged me to fuck you hard. You thought I was plenty man, then, huh, little Ruthie? Remember how slick you used to get for me?”
“You’re a pig.” Ruth said in disgust, shoving him in the chest when he took another step closer.
“Enough of that, young man,” Sam said, stepping between them and glaring Trent down.
Trent looked incredulous. “Did you see that? She shoved me!” He looked around the garage. “You all saw. You’re witnesses!”
Sam growled at him. “I witnessed you being a jackass, that’s all I saw. Now get the hell outta my shop.”
Trent scoffed at him. “Please, old man. You wouldn’t survive without me and my dad’s money keeping this place afloat. But you’re in luck.” He held up his hands. “I happen to be done shopping for the day.”
He shoved a dollar disrespectfully in the shirt pocket of Sam’s flannel, then grabbed a beef jerky off the wall, opened it, and bit into it while he laughed and walked out of the open garage.
“Charmer,” I remarked dryly as soon as he was gone.
Ruth let out a frustrated breath. “Pain in my ass is more like.” She looked to Sam, her eyes remorseful. “I’m sorry, Sam. I know you don’t need trouble from him or his dad blowing back on you.”
He just patted her on the shoulder. “Ain’t your fault that boy came out wrong, honey. And don’t worry about me.” He smiled. “I been around since long before that boy was just a gleam in his papa’s eye. He don’t scare me none. Now, come on and I’ll get you checked out.”
Ruth smiled and followed him back to the front of the store.
Twenty minutes later we’d stopped by Juniper’s Hair and Nails and picked up Ruth’s friend Olivia, along with Ruth introducing me to every single woman in the shop. This included Juniper herself, an older woman with snow-white corkscrew curly hair down to her shoulders that went out in all directions. She wore a bright turquoise tunic-dress and sandals.
Juniper had taken one look at my hair and declared that I just had to come in for a cut and color.
I’d thanked her and looked to Ruth for rescue. She’d obliged and gotten us out of there, which had still taken another ten minutes between all the women saying extended goodbyes.
Now we were in one of the two restaurants in town—Alejandro’s Bar and Grill, and Ruth was treating us to fajitas and she and Olivia were downing big pink margaritas like they were water.
“You shoulda seen him,” Ruth cackled. “Trent was all, you can’t survive without my daddy’s money. And Sam was like, fuck off, little boy.”
“He did not!” Olivia slammed the table, pink margarita sloshing over the edge of her glass and onto her bright, sparkly jeweled nails. “Oh shit,” she laughed and sucked the margarita slushy mix off.
Olivia had definitely embraced the colorful spirit of her mentor, Juniper. She had bright pink hair and a peacock tattoo that took up the entirety of her left arm. She would have fit right in back in San Francisco. In the middle of Central Texas? Not so much. From my whole ten minutes of exposure to her, she seemed fabulous. Bubbly and expressive in a way I’d only ever dreamed of being.
“Okay, okay, he didn’t exactly say it like that,” Ruth admitted. “But he still put that little bastard in his place and it was classic. And you know the gossip mill in this town. Mariah Jones was in there, so you know the story will be everywhere by Sunday afternoon after church.”
Olivia’s eyes went wide, then she laughed even harder. “Oh damn, Mariah was there. That’s hilarious. Her sister was always so jealous of you, remember?”
“Dear God, don’t remind me.”
“I can’t believe you actually dated that douche bag.”
“I said don’t remind me, I’m trying to eat here!” Ruth said as she shoveled fajita mixings into a tortilla.
“How did that even happen? Was he a lot different back in high school?” I asked. They both looked at me, like they were shocked I’d actually said something. Which made me feel like maybe I shouldn’t have. I was an outsider, and just because they were talking so freely in front of me, God, it was stupid to think that they—
“Sorry,” I said, grabbing for my water. “I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to say.” I waved my hand and took a big drink, wanting to disappear. I hadn’t been out with actual humans in society in a long while and I was terrible at this.
