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This breaks through Ruby’s pensive thoughts and she laughs. “This isn’t an island-to-island booty call,” she reassures him as a flush creeps up her neck. “And I know you were wanting some solitude to edit, but…I think you should read these diaries with me.”
Something hangs in the air between them as Ruby’s words settle. She’s inviting the man she’s having a relationship with—the journalist who is writing a biography about her late husband—to join her as she digs through Jack Hudson’s life. She’s telling Dexter that no matter what she finds out about her marriage or about Jack’s feelings for her, she’s willing to share those things with him.
Dexter clears his throat. “Off the record?” he probes gently.
Ruby gives him a one-shouldered shrug as she holds her phone in front of her face. “I’m not sure yet. But if you’re truly wanting to know Jack—if you’re going to write the very best bookthat you can write—then I think you need to read the things that I’m reading.”
They sit there together for a moment, each contemplating the offer. “I could come over first thing tomorrow,” Dexter finally says, sliding his glasses back on and tapping at the laptop that he’s answered her call on. “I can get a boat first thing and be there before noon. How long would you want me to stay?”
“Up to you,” Ruby says, trying to sound noncommittal. “I’ve got nothing planned for the rest of the month, and plenty of rooms in this house. You could set up anywhere and do your own work as well. I’m not saying you have to come for the whole time,” she rushes to add, “but you can certainly join me here and stay for more than a day or two if you want.”
Dexter laughs softly. “That feels pretty open-ended. How about if I come tomorrow and we’ll see how things go? If you get tired of me, you can boot me anytime.”
“Deal,” Ruby says with a smile.
“Now,” Dexter takes his glasses off again and looks right at Ruby with a suggestive smirk, “what else do you think we could get up to while I’m there?”
Ruby makes a face and pretends to think for a moment. “Hmm. Beach combing. Shell collecting. Long walks. Coffee on the deck…”
“Anything else?”
Ruby lifts an eyebrow. “We’ll see,” she says. “Just be on that boat tomorrow, and we’ll see.”
Dexter
The boat tears across the water and Dexter sits on his seat, letting the wind comb through his hair. He's got a lot on his mind: these diaries of Jack Hudson’s, the editing he needs to get done on the book he's writing about the late president, and Ruby.
"You looking forward to your visit, mate?" Cap Duncan shouts over the wind. Cap, one of Dexter's neighbors on Christmas Key, has agreed to take him to Shipwreck on short notice.
"Absolutely!" Dexter calls back, cupping his hands around his mouth so that Cap can hear him. Luckily the motor and the wind cut out most of the need for conversation--though Dexter does enjoy chewing the fat with some of the old timers he shares the island with, particularly Cap--but today he's got a lot on his mind.
Ruby is a fascinating woman. She's such a mixture of things that Dexter is hard-pressed to choose any one adjective to describe her. For a woman who has spent so much time in the spotlight, she's remarkably shy about things, and he knows her well enough now to understand that her reticence to be thecenter of attention isn't just a put on; she is truly an observer, which he loves.
Without acknowledging the bias he feels now that they're officially seeing one another in a romantic capacity, Dexter wholeheartedly believes that he's found a gem in Ruby. She's slightly older than him, sure, but he doesn't mind. As a writer and a journalist, Dexter has traveled the world, seen war, famine, and met thousands of people. He feels older than his thirty-five years anyway, and Ruby being fifty doesn't bother him at all. In fact, he rarely thinks of it except to admire the way the years have formed her into an elegant, smart, thinking woman, all of which are highly appealing to a man who loves being with a partner of substance.
In a recent Zoom call with his close friend, Theo Harris, a fellow journalist and his former college roommate at Oxford, Dexter had found himself waxing rhapsodically about Ruby and everything he loves about her.
"You've got it bad," Theo had said, smiling at him knowingly as he ran a hand over his goatee. Theo was in Italy at the time, and over his shoulder Dexter could see people streaming by on the street as his old buddy sat at a cafe. "I mean, I get it. I’ve seen pictures, you old dog. She's a beauty."
Dexter had laughed. "I always forget she's someone you can just Google."
"You forget you're spending time with a former First Lady?" Theo had lifted an eyebrow and shot him aYou've got to be kidding melook.
"No, it's true. Ruby is so down to earth. She never thinks of herself as the most important person in the room, and before anything else, I know she would describe herself as a mother."
"Oh, right," Theo said, smiling knowingly. "Bit of a MILF, as the kids are saying now. I see the appeal there." He winked.
Dexter shook his head. "It's nothing like that, Theo. I'm not kidding. I just really like her as a human being. And, naturally, I'm quite attracted to her."
"Hmm." Theo had paused here, putting all jokes aside. "And do you see this going anywhere once the book is finished? Or does this relationship have the same shelf-life as your current project?"
From anyone else, this might have sounded like a rude question. But Theo has known Dexter for nearly twenty years, and in that time, Dexter hasn't really had many long-term relationships. Of course, given the nature of their shared career path, Theo hasn't really either. They are men who travel, sleep roughly in hotels and on airplanes, and labor over sentence structure and word choice. They file stories, repack their bags, drink too much coffee, and forget people's birthdays. They aren't in one place long enough to find love and nurture it.
Until now, Dexter thinks as the boat cuts across the Gulf of Mexico.Everything is different now.
And he'd said as much to Theo that day on the Zoom call: that he feels like a different man; that Ruby makes him want to slow down and breathe deeply and not constantly be sitting in an aisle seat of an airplane bound for foreign lands with a vodka tonic in one hand. He's even started spending more time on Christmas Key and just enjoying the slower pace of things lately, and this has created a deep well of peace and calm inside of Dexter that he hasn't known for most of his adult life.
But he'll see how it goes. For now, he's enjoying the feelings that Ruby stirs inside of him, and he's loving their collaboration on the book. He sees her as a whole, fascinating woman and not just a subject he's interviewing, and the more he gets to know her, the more he likes and respects her.
